Every month we like to do a #top7 trail running shoe list for both men and women to let folks now what’s big at Seven Hills Running Shop. The Altra Olympus 2, shown above, loomed above all others for the first half of 2016.
If you follow us on Instagram, you’ve already seen our lists, but we’ll include more details here.
We are a trail focused shop, selling primarily trail running shoes. Trail Running Shoes made up 70% of our total shoe sales for the first half of 2016; road running shoes made up the other 30% of the pie.
Men’s Midyear Top7
- Altra Olympus 2 – The Olympus 2 is leaps and bounds above the Olympus 1 and 1.5; so if you haven’t tried it because you didn’t like its predecessors, now’s the time!
- Altra Lone Peak 2.5 – It’s hard to imagine the Lone Peak franchise got bumped down to #2!! We really feel like the Lone Peak 3.0 (which just arrived today at the shop!) still has a chance to outsell the Olympus by the end of the year.
- Altra Superior 2.0 – The 2016 version does boast an improved upper from 2015’s Superior 2.0. Interesting that this shoe wasn’t named the Superior 2.5.
- Pearl Izumi Trail N3 – Arriving in March, the newest Pearl Izumi trail shoe had a bit of a disadvantage as the 3 Altras in front were available to buy starting in January. The Pearl Izumi’s have the best uppers in the business and fit the widest range of foot shapes and types.
- Pearl Izumi Trail N2 v2 – We expect the Trail N2v3–which arrived in June!!–to make the End of Year Top7. It’s slightly wider than v2, with improved traction. The classic Trail N2 just got better!!
- Merrell All Out Peak – The Merrell’s slipped a bit from last year, mostly losing sales to the Trail N3 and Olympus. The 2016 version seems to fit a tad wider than 2015’s version–even though technically it’s the same shoe.
- Hoka Challenger 2 – The Challenger joins the Trail N3 as the only shoes to make the midyear list without being available for the full 6 month period. The Challengers arrived mid-February.
Almost making the men’s list: Saucony Peregrine 6, Scott Kinabalu 3, New Balance Leadville 3
Women’s Midyear Top7
- Altra Olympus 2 – We can’t remember the men’s and women’s top trail shoe being the same on a midyear or end of year list. The sales of Olympus2 have really been remarkable.
- Merrell All Out Peak – The Merrell Peak remained strong for women; it just fits that classic high arched, skinny heeled foot so well! (it fits a lot like Saucony for women)
- Altra Lone Peak 2.5 – The Lone Peak 3.0 might become number one for women too by year’s end–all because of the improved heel fit on the LP3!!!
- Pearl Izumi Trail N3 – Expect to see the Trail N3 in the top 3 by year’s end, as it will have time to catch up!!
- Saucony Peregrine 6 – The Peregrine’s might have been higher up but we couldn’t get enough of them! Saucony was sold out of several key sizes most of the spring.
- Pearl Izumi Trail N2 v2 – the updates given to the Trail N2v3 will do well for women’s sales as well…now if Pearl Izumi would just change the name of this shoe to the “7hills.”
- Hoka Challenger 2 – The upper improvements from Challenger v1 to v2 made a big difference for a lot of ladies; we just saw the Challenger 3 sample today: exciting!!
Almost making the women’s list: Topo MT2, Scott Kinabalu 3.0
Looking back at our #Prediction7 from the end of 2015, we only really missed on the Montrail Trans Alps. That shoe wasn’t even close, and we won’t be ordering any more Montrail shoes for 2016 as they turn into Columbia/Montrail shoes in 2017. Also, we included the women’s New Balance Gobi in the ladies predictions for 2016. That shoe just arrived a few weeks ago; it’s too early to tell if the Gobi was a good pick for Top7.
There are a couple other shoes that also have a chance of making the year end Top7 list. The New Balance Vazee Summit has done well; but its sales will compete with New Balance Gobi sales, splitting the total numbers of each sold and likely preventing either from making the final Top7 of 2016.
After seeing the Hoka Speed Instinct in action at the Western States 100, I am a lot more excited for them than I was at the end of 2015. There’s a good shot it will catapult into the Top7 by year’s end–even though we won’t see them until August.
Based on the hot sales of the women’s Saucony Peregrine 6, there’s a chance the new and improved Xodus ISO could make the women’s list by the end of the year too. The Xodus is oh so cushy, and that seems to sell a lot of shoes these days!!
There’s a new Topo Trail Shoe coming in November…but that will be too late to make our 2016 January-December best-seller’s list.
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