shoes for cross country

Quoted message said:

Hello,

next week for the first time I'll take part in some cross country event. Usually I run on asphalt.
I had a look at the course: it's extremely muddy with a lot of puddles. I tried to run there and
pretty soon my shoes were full of water. So I guess I don't wear the right shoes for cross country.
What kind of shoes should you wear? Maybe for the race the best would be not to wear shoes at all
and to run barefoot?

There are both spikes and flats for cross country. I'm not sure about availability in Europe (or
even if the names are the same) but if you go to websites like espikes.com or eastbay.com you can
find the racing shoes. The Nike Zoom Kennnedy XC is very popular, and Adidas makes the Neptune XC in
both spiked and non-spiked versions that are fairly popular.

In short xc courses with standing water, some people use steeplechase spikes because they have
drainage holes for the water. The length of spikes for xc is longer than for track and varies with
the course. Some xc courses cross paved roads. You can run on asphalt on spikes for short distances,
but if the paved running is significant, spikeless versions are normally used.

Lyndon

"Speed Kills...It kills those that don't have it!" --US Olympic Track Coach Brooks Johnson

Ulrich Hillinger said:

Hello,

next week for the first time I'll take part in some cross country event. Usually I run on asphalt.
I had a look at the course: it's extremely muddy with a lot of puddles. I tried to run there and
pretty soon my shoes were full of water. So I guess I don't wear the right shoes for cross
country. What kind of shoes should you wear? Maybe for the race the best would be not to wear
shoes at all and to run barefoot?

Consider shoes that drain. I don't know what's available in spikes, but in non-spike trail shoes the
Adidas Climacool Trail has drainage holes. There's nothing nicer on a hot foot than a cold puddle. I
usually find myself aiming for water in the latter stages of my off-road runs. Grip is quite good on
mud/grass and not too bad on tarmac for when roads need to be crossed.

Colm