On holiday in Australia I picked-up a new pair of Keen Ochoco trail running shoes. They are my first pair of Keens; in the past I normally have run in Brooks Adrenaline GTS 6/7 and Icebug trail running shoes. Although I have only owned them for a short period of time I thought that I would write an early-bird review.
My first impressions when wearing the shoes were that they felt very snug and stable – more like a low-cut walking shoe than a pair of runners. Cushioning across the shoe is good, the base is nice and supportive, and the sole has plenty of gnarly grip.
I took the shoes for a couple of runs over the past week; one in Sydney and one in Brisbane. I was pleased that they seem equally at home on both tarmac and track. Grip was good on the downhills, even on some steep, potentially slippery sections of wet asphalt.
Keen push these shoes for their waterproofing (they brand the fabric used ‘eVent’). In Brisbane I had an ideal opportunity to test this out – a 70 minute run in a tropical downpour J Within ten minutes of running I was completely drenched – but my feet remained dry. The shoes performed very well in the wet terrain, offering a very stable and confident ride. No shoes can keep heavy rain out forever, but my feet stayed dry through the rain and running through small creeks for an impressive 40 minutes. If this had been a run through similar terrain on a dry day I am confident that I would have stayed dry throughout the run.
Drainage on the shoes was not great – I was stuck with heavy, sploshing feet for the rest of my run. So if you are planning on taking on river crossings then these shoes aren’t ideal – I would recommend the Teva X1 Racer instead as an excellent quick-venting trail running shoe. But if most of your course involves dry land, with perhaps some shallow water crossings, then the Keen Ochoco are definitely worth considering.
Arrested Development 