Ultrafly 1

Up to pace the Ultrafly rewards you. The ZoomX foam and carbon plate combine into a rolling, propulsive ride that feels closer to a road super-shoe than a traditional trail shoe, and on runnable trail you get real turnover and a genuine sense of pop through toe-off. Hold race effort and it comes alive. Slow down and the magic fades. At easy jogging pace the tall, stiff platform feels a touch clumsy and disconnected from the ground, which is the trade-off for all that stack and propulsion. Ground feel is limited, so trust comes from the grip rather than feedback through the foot. This is a shoe that wants to be run fast and run hard, and it feels best when you give it exactly that.

There is a lot of cushioning here for a trail shoe, and it works in your favour over distance. The full-length ZoomX midsole soaks up long descents and rocky pounding, protecting your legs deep into a trail marathon or ultra when tired quads usually start to complain. On smoother trail and hardpack that plush, bouncy stack keeps you comfortable hour after hour. The flip side is that it is soft and tall, so the shoe can feel a little vague on precise, technical ground where a firmer, lower racer would sit more planted. For long, runnable races where leg protection matters more than millimetre-perfect footing, the cushioning is a real strength.

This is a neutral shoe with no added support features, so it is not the pick if you need structured pronation control. The tall ZoomX stack sits high off the ground, and combined with the soft foam that raises the perceived instability on off-camber, technical and rooty terrain, where the shoe can feel tippy if your footwork is loose. The carbon plate does add a measure of longitudinal rigidity that steadies the ride front to back, and the Vibram Megagrip outsole gives you huge confidence underfoot on wet rock and mud, which is its own kind of stability. But lateral security is only okay. Strong, confident trail runners with good ankles will get on with it. If technical ground makes you nervous, a lower, firmer trail racer will feel safer.

The upper is a lightweight, race-minded build that wraps the foot closely and holds it in place over rough ground without much fuss. Lockdown through the midfoot is secure, the lacing bites cleanly, and there is enough structure to keep you connected to the platform on hard efforts and quick direction changes. It is trimmed for performance rather than plushness, so do not expect a thickly padded, slipper-soft interior. For dry and mixed conditions it breathes reasonably and drains acceptably when you hit water, though like most fast trail uppers it is built for speed and protection first and long-haul cosseting second.