Adizero Avanti 2 vs Zoom Mamba 6

The Adizero Avanti 2 is adidas at its most single-minded: a long-distance track spike built for the 5000m and 10,000m, and not much else. This is a race-day tool, not a training shoe. At 170g with a stiff full-length spike plate and Lightstrike Pro foam underfoot, it aims to give you a touch more cushion and return than a stripped bare spike, so your legs survive 25 laps and still have a kick left. On the track it feels fast and direct, with the pins biting hard through the bend. We rate it as one of the more forgiving distance spikes out there, which matters when the gun goes on lap 20 and not lap 2. It sits mid-pack on price for an elite spike at an RRP of 150 pounds. If you race longer track events and want a spike that protects you late, it earns a place in the bag. Shorter, sharper efforts want a different tool, and the Adizero Ambition 2 covers the middle distances better.

The Zoom Mamba 6 is Nike's distance and steeplechase spike, a running shoe built for the longer end of the track: 3000m steeple, 5000m and 10000m. Where a pure middle-distance spike like the Air Zoom Victory 2 is all aggression, the Mamba trades a little of that snap for a shoe you can hold form in when the laps stack up. The spike plate is firm and locks you onto your forefoot, so every stride turns over quickly and cleanly. At an RRP of £100 it is one of the more sensible buys in the distance-spike world, well under the price of the carbon super-spikes. In our view that is the point. This is a racer for club runners, students and county-level athletes who want a proper, fast track shoe without paying elite-tier money. It will not flatter a weak final 200m the way the priciest spikes do, but for honest distance racing it does the job and keeps doing it.