Trail and Scramble Shoes

Saucony Peregrine 10 ST Trail Shoe | Review

Sometimes to improve something all you need to do is simplify it...

Why We Chose The Saucony Peregrine 10 ST Trail Shoe: Super grippy on soft trails, protective

The Saucony Peregrine is back, this time in its 10th iteration. The most obvious difference between this model and the last few ones is that Saucony have stopped using their ISOFIT upper construction and have instead switched to a FORMFIT one. ISOFIT incorporated “wings” on either side of the shoe which connected to the lacing system to create a contour hugging fit that allowed the upper to flex with your foot as it changes shape with each step. The FORMFIT that has replaced it on this new model of the Peregrine is much more straightforward, conforming to the same type of fit that most other running shoes go for. Is this a good thing then? Skip down to our Tester’s Verdict at the bottom to find out.

Who Is The Saucony Peregrine 10 ST Trail Shoe For?

We’d say the Peregrine 10 trail running shoe is most at home on mid length mountain runs. We’re talking 10 to 15 mile runs on trails. Any type of trail will do, but these definitely have the right kind of features, traits and performance for big ascents and descents.

The Upper

The upper is made from a mesh with PU overlays to add structure and provide a bit of protection, particularly around the toes. The tongue is padded and gusseted to prevent dirt and debris from sneaking in through the laces. The laces themselves are flat, woven through PU reinforced eyelets in the mesh upper and they have a little hook at the base for attaching a gaiter.

“I like Saucony’s wide-ish toe box. For me it’s an important thing to have.”

As is the Saucony style, the toe box has a bit of width to it. Not as much as an Altra shoe, but certainly more than you’d find on most Adidas, Arc’teryx, Inov-8 or Salomon styles. The heel however still keeps a close fit.

The slightly roomy toe box will help on those long runs. Photo: Mike Brindley

The Sole

Underfoot there’s an ergonomic foam footbed, a plastic flex plate on the forefoot to protect from rocks and roots and then a PWRRUN midsole for a more responsive ride than the previous PWRFOAM model The cushioning in the midsole comes from a TPU-based bead foam which Saucony claim is formulated to be bouncier, more durable, more flexible and more consistent across different temperatures than EVA foam.

It’s a fairly low stack height: 27mm at the heel and 23cm at the toe. That means a neutral 4mm drop which will allow you to bring your quads and glutes into the equation, something that should help on those bigger ascents.

Grippy protection made for muddy, sloppy, terrain. Photo: Mike Brindley

The upper is made from a mesh with PU overlays. Photo: Mike Brindley

There's a close fit on the heel. Photo: Mike Brindley

As was the case with the previous models in the Peregrine family, the outsole has a very sticky rubber compound coupled with an aggressive tread pattern made up of 6.5mm multi-directional lugs.

Interestingly, Saucony have printed guidance on the sole to tell you where you can screw in extra cleats if you want even more grip. There’s also guidance on where you can drill in holes for extra drainage. The adaptability is an interesting addition but we’re not too sure how many people would actually use it.

Tester’s Verdict

Will Renwick, editor of Outdoors Magic

“I’ll be honest, because of the lockdown over the last few months, I haven’t been able to test these out on any alpine-style mountains – the kind of terrain where they’re probably most at home. I have however been using them regularly on the woodland trails in my area.

“I’m a big fan of Saucony. A few years ago, in fact, their Nomad TR was my shoe of choice when I ran the 100 mile coast of the Isle of Man. First of all, I found these were good to go for me straight out of the box. They might have taken about 5 miles to loosen up a bit, but still, I didn’t feel any niggles.

“The grip is excellent – very reliable. It’s not right up there with the likes of Inov-8’s Mudclaw in terms of gnarliness but it’s not that far from it. I have found that it does have vulnerability on slimy roots and wet rocks, like most trail shoes, but it’s well capable of handling steep muddy trails. Mud seems to shed reasonably well too. The downside to these lugs is that if you do have to run on any road sections in these, they don’t crossover too well.

“The grip is excellent – very reliable”

“The amount of cushioning was certainly noticeable on the previous Peregrine and some will be glad to hear they’ve scaled it back a bit here. Not just underfoot but on the tongue and around the heel as well. The intention behind this was to give these a ‘more responsive’ feel and I’d say they’ve succeeded here. You can feel the lay of the land under your feet but without any compromise on the level of protection – not noticeably anyway. I particularly like the fact that there’s a bit of flex at the toes so you can then use those foot muscles to power uphill.

“I like Saucony’s wide-ish toe box. For me it’s an important thing to have when I’m putting big miles in and can expect my feet to expand or splay a bit. The one slight downside is that you don’t quite get the same level of precision as you would in some shoes.

“Another thing that’s noticeable is that the heel is quite narrow. I’ve got a narrow heel, so this worked in my favour. It might not suit everyone though.

“I can’t really see myself screwing in an extra cleat. There’s a lot of grip already and if you’re that serious about your running, you’d probably want to get a specific shoe that will do the job. The same goes for the drainage holes. I could only see myself using them if I’d drunkenly signed up to a swimrun and didn’t have time to find the right footwear.

“To conclude, this is a shoe I’ve enjoyed using, one I’d happily wear for long distance trail runs from half marathon to ultra marathon-length and on soft or hard trails – it’s definitely most at home on softer ones though.”