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.”