La Sportiva Wildcat trail runner

Jack, 5th pair of Brooks Cascadia or Wildcats? Whichever you have, how is the underfoot protection/torsional rigidity?

I'm in the same boat and compiling a list now of shoes with:
-generous toe box
-protection and some torsional rigidity (like nylon shank)
-cushioning
-relatively low drop from heel to toe and less aggressive front rocker (high drop puts your weight on your metatarsals and aggressive rocker pushes up your toes to bruise metatarsal heads – in general high drop makes for unnatural walking/running)

First pair lasted only 450 miles before complete blow out. The mesh blew out on the bottom seam on both sides of the shoe. I attribute it to improperly fitted superfeet insoles and general rot from three weeks of soaked feet. All other pairs have been swapped out after about 750 miles, which is as far as I like to push a shoe. Generally they've been in useable shape after that still.

5th pair of Wildcats.. Torsional rigidity is moderate really. More than most running shoes, but not superb. Same goes for underfoot protection. I feel that they lean more towards the running side of the trail runner spectrum than towards the hiking shoe side.

You are a stud. My longest single day hike is 35 miles. I had an 18lb pack and 3lb full leather boots but I think I'd need a car to get 46 miles in.

I need to try some of these trail runner shoes. I'd prefer a little extra support and since I'm not running a marathon I'm not concerned about an ounce or two.

Well, I was in a camping store here in Melbourne the other day, and noticed the Wildcat v2.0 sitting on the shelf.

I put it on my foot, and fell in love.

Heaps of toe room. Heaps of heel support. Hugs my mid foot really well. Great traction.

The only 'thing' is that the sides do come up rather high, hugging the bottom aspect of my lateral malleolus (outer ankle bone). This was more prominent on my right foot as it is slightly smaller than my left. I couldn't feel it at all on my left. I thought I'd give it a season with these. Perhaps this would have been less obvious if I didn't size up as much – I ensured that I could get a thick pair of wooly socks on (with room for a goretex sock) for winter hiking, as well as feeling comfortable with just a minimalist synthetic ankle sock on….size 44 felt true to size (right foot sized at 42.5, left foot sized at 43.5).

I found one store that sold Inov-8 shoes here in Melbourne (although he did only stock 3 models), however the retailer knew ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about the shoe's purpose and the associated minimalist movement….disappointing to say the least!! He thought that they came in different colours for each model…unaware that a different colour represented a different drop etc., and thought it was silly that I spoke about 'millimetre increments' when I was talking about training my feet down to a 3 – 6mm drop for a hiking shoe. I was very disappointed, and felt rather guilty for trying a pair on just for sizes sake (for later online purchase).

I still may get a pair down the track (Trailroc 245 or 255)…

…but for now, I'm loving the Wildcats…very comfy, very stable, very breathable….very nice.