Austrian ski boot brand Dynafit has been producing running gear since 2011, and I was excited to get mountain ready with a pair of designed for muddy trails, specifically aimed at a mixture of gravel and mid-steep descents. Much like one of Austria’s most famous dishes, the Käsespätzle (a pasta and cheese combo that’s the country’s answer to macaroni-cheese), Dynafit trail shoes just seem a bit more glamorous and exciting than our UK offerings. Packed with features, Dynafit’s Feline SL is more than just a standard trail running shoe and includes plenty of great engineering for your money.
My first outing testing the Dynafit Feline SL shoe was not on the alpine zig-zags of Tyrol, but rather on the gravel trails of Llyn Trawsfynydd in North Wales. No Austrian lift stations in sight, but rather a lush testing ground with kilometer after kilometer of perfect trail running around a man-made reservoir with undulating terrain, with some mud sections, short boulder-hopping river crossings and wooded paths. Indeed, the Dynafit Feline SL trail shoes have been my go-to shoe for the last four months, from running among the Trotternish ridge on Skye to pounding the footpaths and urban sprawl of Sheffield.
It’s a sure sign of a great running shoe if you find yourself not wanting to wear any other. I’ve often struggled with trail running shoes, having bounced around in various offerings from different running brands, including Saucony Peregrine Falcons, and . I have a wide toe box, medium-arched feet, plus a narrowing at the back and low volume foot.
Hence, trail running shoes that don’t pinch the foot are what I’ve been looking for. For this test, I wore a size 6.5 (EU 40) shoe.
The shoes were wide enough to fit a standard , and I found the overall fit, based on Dynafit’s ‘sensitive fit’, meant the shoe didn’t feel too bulky. It also gave enough precise support to allow me to run my normal gait, a natural roll-through into a toe off. The Dynafit Feline SL trail running shoe combines several important features to help make wearing trail running shoes stress free.
Thanks to the Quick Lacing System plus the protection of the Dynafit Invisible Lacing Technology, it’s possible to lace the shoe quickly and precisely one-handed, while the stretch lace cover ensures that no rocks and dirt get into the shoe and that the laces remain safely stowed without any worry about them becoming undone. Additional features of the Dynafit Feline SL trail running shoe include an injection-molded TPU toe cap (also known as the ballistic bumper) to decrease the effect of impacts on the toes and forefoot so the feet don’t get crushed when striking rocky terrain. The back of the shoe also has a 'Heel Preloader', a diagonal reinforcement at the heel which helps improve overall hold.
With its deep, aggressive tread, the Feline SL running shoe is a shoe that offers a degree of security when navigating swathes of soft and muddy surfaces. From plunging bog to long grassy ferns to coastal walk-ins, the Feline SL is an impressive, versatile, sturdy trail shoe that I’ve found surprisingly adaptable to a whole host of terrain surfaces and can even be used on mud and snow. For those who have their eyes on longer runs, it does well for responsiveness (so doesn’t feel too clunky / bulky as a shoe) and has good traction when navigating steep drops and rocky surfaces, coping well with the classic wet rock that is typical of British trails.
For those who require stability, the Pomoca outsole provides an effective amount in the forefoot while carefully spaced lugs offer excellent grip in the mid-foot area and traction at the toes and heel. A lug drop of 8mm guarantees good support and enough push so that when striking the ground there’s sufficient power to pick the pace up. The only downside to the Dynafit Feline SL is the lack of any waterproof membrane.
The shoes are breathable and allow sweat to pass through, but unfortunately, at one point I found my foot completely submerged and then struggled with damp feet for the rest of the run. It’s a great shoe and for most summer adventures it provides good resistance to water, but the GTX version might be more practical for hardy fell runners..
