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The Three Forts Challenge Half Marathon is a trail race across the hills of the South Downs National Park. Taking in part of the full marathon course, it sees some tasty climbs, covers almost 500m of elevation and has some of the county’s most impressive scenery.

Tom took The North Face Summit Vectiv Pro 2 out for their first outing to see if the new updates are worth shouting about.

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JUMP STRAIGHT IN:
00:00​​​​ – Intro
01:24 – The 3 Forts Challenge Half Marathon
06:11 – The North Face Summit Vectiv Pro 2

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Hey there Tom here from the r testers I Am in Worthing today about to do the Three fors challenge uh it's a marathon I'm not doing the full full Marathon I'm Doing the half marathon because I'm done With marathons for a while I think um so Uh it's a TR race goes over the South Downs uh it's meant to be quite a good One it's quite popular around here so I'm quite looking forward to seeing what It's like it's the perfect day for it It's a little bit of cloud um it's not Too hot uh but it's nice and sunny so Looking forward to this one I'm going to Be testing out the North Face uh Summit Vactive Pro twos I was a big fan of the Ones uh so I'm interested to see how the Slight changes to the twos have affected The ride right I'm going to uh go and Sort my stuff out and uh get started see You a bit [Music] [Music] Right so I've just got back from the Three thoughts challenge half marathon Uh it's not one I've done before it's Part of a series of races that take Place on the same day so you've got the Full Marathon the half marathon and a Five mile I think that's all of them um And it starts in Worthing and it goes Around the southdowns um if you do the Marathon it's a bigger Loop if you do The half marathon it's a short Loop and

Five miles I don't know where it goes But I'm assuming you turn back quite Quickly um it's quite a popular race on The south coast it's a really it's it's Not the trickiest trail run out there I Think if you're doing the marathon You're probably looking about 1,000 M of Elevation we got about 500 M on the half Marathon um but it takes place in May Which means that it can go either way on The south coast it could be really wet And bad conditions today it wasn't today Was absolutely perfect we got there the The temperature was probably about 14 15° there was a little bit of cloud um And it was absolutely spot- on Conditions it hasn't rained uh on the Downs for a couple of days so it was Really dry and most of the course is on The or a lot of the course is on South The souths way which is really well Looked after paths on the around the South Downs so when they're dry they're Absolutely perfect and a lot of it is Really quite similar to soft Road Basically uh and it makes it really Really nice to have a half marathon Race Full marathon Race on it because you Don't have to worry about lots of mud And slipping and things like that so it Was a really good day for the race the Course it's um it's pretty similar to Most of the other Trail Races that You'll do on the South Downs uh there's

There were three main Hills in it but There's quite a lot of ups and downs Throughout the course some of them are Quite hard I remember two of them being Really quite tricky um but there's a lot Of really nice long downhills as well so It's a very enjoyable uh route to do and Um you definitely get a lot back from Going up those Hills some races where You get a really sharp um downhill after A really long climb you don't really get Many benefits but in this one you really Do get a lot of long slow not too hard Uphill climbs and then a lot of really Nice downhills that you can really pick Up the pace and my splits across the the Course varied massively some of the Uphills were like 7 Minute kilometers Some of them were down to about 4 minute 10 km or at least a couple of them were Um so it's a really nice race to do uh To sign up for I'm not sure what the Marathon's like but I'd like to give That a go next year um just because the Half marathon just went really well Fantastically organized event plenty of Marshals around the signs were massive I Didn't any point think I was going to Get lost and there are a few points in The race where I was running on my own I Couldn't see anybody in front of me I've Done Trail Races before where uh you're Looking out for little ribbons on trees And things like that and it's very easy

To lose your way not this one very Simple if you most of it's on the Main South Downs paths anyway so there's Really clear signs that point you in the Direction you're you're meant to go so Really good from that point of view the Eight stations are great as well so they Do say that you should bring your own Water bottles but they do Supply um Drinks water and some squash in um Plastic cups which are reusable so they Wash them up and um for the next people That come along and there were plenty at The stops when I got there I was in the Faster group of the half marathon so I Don't know if that if if it was harder To get snacks and things later on but For us there was absolutely loads um and The uh the live selection like Jaffer Cakes and um babies and all sorts of Things as well really nice organized Event the start area is um really good As well um there was plenty of toilets We didn't have to queue too long for the Toilets and um picking up your race bib And everything was very smooth and Efficient and they also nice little bit Of entertainment at the start with the With the over the PA and things like That so well worth doing if you fancy a Really um accessible I mean I wouldn't Say it's the easiest TR Trail uh race You're going to do out there but if You're on the south Downs they're all

About the same so uh it's really nice One to go to especially this time of Year as well so really enjoyed it I Didn't go for a fast time today um I'm I Never race Trails anyway but I think I Ended up with about 1 hour 51 uh minutes Which for me was I was pretty happy with I just tried to do it steady I picked up The pace a few bits and then took it Easy on some of the hills so I Definitely wasn't pushing myself too far But um I'm just trying to get some Motivation back for running after London And uh Boston marathons at the moment so Great day out really pleased with it got A nice wooden medal as well um and a T-shirt um which is very nice of them And uh yeah I'll probably aim to do the Marathon next [Music] Year so the shoe that I was testing was This the new the North Face Summit Vective Pro 2 now I have uh used the pro One a few times uh felt very comfortable Very enjoyable when you're on the on Flatter Trail surfaces um and yeah very Was was a fan of that shoe I think it Was a very good uh entry into the trail Shoe market and it was North Face did Have done a great job in recent years of Releasing some shoes that are really Making Waves in the trail world I Remember a while ago I I I don't think They are making any shoes that were

Really making a difference but things Like the um submit Ved Pro one um really Are good shoes when it comes to running Fast on the trails the summit vective Pro 2 has some adjustments to it so one Of the biggest ones of those is the Plate has been slightly redesigned to Sit a little bit lower in the midsole One of the things that a lot of people Had problems with uh in the previous Version of the shoe was um the fit of The plate and it could be uncomfortable For some people uh now it sits under More of the midsole and it as a result It does feel a little bit softer and a Little bit more comfortable to run in This is the first time I've I've used This shoe and I don't like to normally Take out a shoe to test uh on a race Straight away I'd like to at least use It one or two times beforehand but I Took this out it was really really Comfortable it's definitely an Improvement on the previous version I Found it to be absolutely fantastic and Today's conditions are pretty much Perfect for using this shoe it's a shoe That's really it doesn't have massive Lugs on it um it's it's got a lot in Common with Road um carbon plate shoes Uh and as a result it's really a shoe That's designed for those harder compact Trails Rocky Trails things like that Where you're getting a similar hard hard

Surface that you're going to get on to a To a road surface and today it was act It was just all of it was like that Everything was pretty much um a smooth Hard surface a little bit softer than Road in some points because it was Compact in mud but really it was the Perfect conditions for testing the shoe And it was so comfortable throughout That run it felt really good uh felt Really efficient when I was picking up The pace um it felt like I could really Do that in this shoe um and I found that The upper was very comfortable as well There's plenty of padding around the Upper of this shoe uh it's quite easy to Get a nice lock down fit and it's got Really nice laces on it's got those Laces that are on the alpha fly as well Which you don't really even need to Double knot because they've got all These notches on there that sort of hold It in place um there's the Oppo is also Nice and breathable in this so um it was Quite warm today didn't have any issues With that at all um only thing I would Say is that the outsole and I mentioned This with the previous version it only Has quite small lugs on today was Perfect conditions for it because I Didn't really need any additional grip The ground wasn't sloppy or muddy or Anything like that so um it worked Perfectly those lugs um they're quite

Small though if you if you're paying or Running in like the Lake District or Something you're going to find these This shoe is going to be very slippy It's very much designed for the sort of Terrain I was on today the same sort of Terrain you're probably going to get in Drier countries um on the trails where It's a little bit Compact and uh and Hard um so overall really enjoyed that Running in these shoes today uh and Looking forward to using these a little Bit more I think the improvements based On my knowledge of the previous shoe are Better I it definitely feels more com Able to me it's actually moving more Towards into that realm of like the hwon Xx2 for me now becoming a great Comfortable shoe um for those lighter Trails that just has a good level of Efficiency and comfort in it that um Delivers a lot like a rachu so very Successful first run in this shoe and Looking forward to um to using it a Little bit more the only other thing I Was testing today uh were these Darn Tough socks um now these socks are Called and I'm going to have to bring This not cuz I keep forgetting the name They're the darn men's element micro Crew lightweight socks now um I've been Testing a few darn socks recently and um I I do have a few pairs that I've I've Had from a while back um but I've got a

Few new pairs in now and they're Absolutely fantastic they're just really Really comfortable I had no issues with These at all today but nice and Breathable on the feet very comfortable They've got a good level of padding in Them they're a nice balance so they're Not too light um so they help to pad out The shoes a little bit more make him a Little bit more comfortable and the Thing I mentioned um when I covered D of Socks in the essentials last month I was Talking about testing another different Pair of these socks and I didn't mention The fact that they have a warranty where If the socks become worn uh or need to Be replaced you can just send them back To dtuff and they'll they'll give you a Credit for a new a new pair which is Absolutely fantastic um so well worth Looking into they are quite expensive For socks I think they're about 2122 for A pair of socks but with that warrant It sort of makes up for it um and all The pairs that I've had in the past that I've not had any issues with them at all I've got pairs that I've been using for Years um and I've not had to send them Back yet so that's a pretty good sign That they're they're pretty durable um But they're also really comfortable as Well so well worth looking into if You're looking for some new socks and Want to invest in a pair that are going

To last you um a very very long time so That's it for me on this race test Thanks a lot for watching don't forget To like subscribe click the little bell And if you're going to catch below you Can find a link to our podcast which Comes out at the end of each month Thanks lot for watching catch you next Time [Music]