Sports
The best running shoes of 2025
This has been another year of fantastic footwear from all the major brands. With more super-shoes and super-foams, we’ve been treated to great shoes for every surface.
Here we pick the best of the shoes we’ve tried in 2025.
Best Cushioned Shoe
Brooks – Glycerin Max 2 – £180.00
This updated max-cushioned shoe from Brooks arrived late in the year, but the original version was already a strong contender in this category. The updates in this second-generation model are only minor but improve the fit and overall feel of the shoe. When it comes to high-stacked cushioned models, the DNA Tuned, nitrogen-infused foam provides great cushioning on impact and a responsive toe off that makes it a great choice for those steady pace daily miles.
The shoe delivers exceptional levels of cushioning, absorbing shock mile after mile without any noticeable loss of impact protection or its smooth toe-off spring. When it comes to a daily training shoe, you want durability, and the Glycerin Max is a shoe that keeps on going mile after mile!
Best Performance Trainer
ASICS – Megablast – £210.00
Want to pick up the pace on those daily miles? The Megablast is the perfect shoe for you! Incredibly light and exceptionally bouncy, it transforms your runs, adding an extra spring to every stride.
The new FF TURBO SQUARED foam is lighter, softer and springier than ever at the same time well balanced for a ride that is smooth and encourages speed. Well placed between racing shoe and trainer, you could make this shoe a one-stop solution, such is its comfort and performance.
Adding to ASICS’ ever-increasing range of ‘fast shoes’, the Megablast is the most versatile and one that you’ll want to reach for every day, thanks to its lightweight, fast feel, and easy-going feel.
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Best Support Shoe
Saucony Guide 18 – £130.00
Need a touch of support? Then the Saucony Guide 18 is a versatile solution at a great value price point. Thanks to its unique midsole geometry, the shoe manages to keep the majority of overpronators in a neutral position in a manner that feels natural and very easy to get along with.
Deep cushioning takes care of the impact, and the brand’s CentrePath technology makes the shoe one of the most effective on the market right now in providing support to a wide range of runners. The Guide is a great all-around training shoe for those requiring some stability, and its price point makes it the best value model on the market in this category.
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Best Update
Mizuno – Wave Rider 29 – £140.00
Now in its 29th year, the Wave Rider has always been a reliable daily training shoe. Perhaps a little forgotten in recent years, this update transforms the shoe and breathes fresh life into the brand’s most popular model.
With a new nitrogen-infused Mizuno Enerzy NXT midsole, the Wave Rider 29 is softer, plusher and a much springier daily trainer. The updates really have put a spring into the step and ride of the shoe. As a shoe in its 29th generation, this update manages to do a great job of retaining a familiar feel yet staying up to date in the era of superfoams and performance trainers.
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Best Trail Shoe
Brooks – Ghost Trail – £135.00
For most runners, a trail shoe needs to be a do-it-all shoe that can take you from the door to the trail. Here, Brooks has taken their best-selling daily training model and given it a tougher upper and a go-anywhere sole that provides a versatile solution for trails as well as winter running.
Cushioning is the same nitrogen-infused midsole as its road-going stablemate, and with 3mm outsole lugs, the shoe can tackle most of the everyday tracks and trails that it should encounter. As a go-anywhere model with good, responsive cushioning and durability, the Ghost Trail is a great option.
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Best New Brand
Mount to Coast – H1 – £150.00
Still only a couple of years old, Mount to Coast has been slowly making a name for itself as a brand with durable shoes featuring cushioning that far exceeds the usual expectations. With ultra-distance race victories as well as endurance challenges under their belt, the brand is going from strength to strength.
The H1 is their new multi-surface option designed to tackle a range of surfaces and terrains. Its unique midsole is created with an advanced supercritical foaming process to foam the CircleCELL cushioning. The result is a material with the energy return of PEBA but almost twice the lifespan.
With a soft and bouncy yet stable ride and a versatile outsole that can cope with both road and trail, the H1 is a great all-rounder and the best model yet from the brand. If you want to try a shoe that’s cushioned, comfortable and durable, that’s a little different from the usual big-brand options, this brand is one to explore.
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Best Racing Shoe (5-10km)
Puma – Fast R3 – £260.00
When it comes to racing shoes, the category is as fiercely contested by brands as it is by athletes on the road. This has created a very competitive market and driven the options sky high in terms of technology.
A couple of years ago, the biggest brand names ruled the roost, but now the choice of the best racing shoe can change from one season to the next. When it comes to road racers, the Fast R3 from Puma took the running world by storm, selling out in its many colour iterations this year.
It’s NITROFOAM cushioning combined with an aggressive carbon plate and research-backed performance data showing it to provide a 3% boost, ensuring it was the choice of many over any distance on the road.
For us, the shoe felt best over shorter distances, with the more aggressive forefoot providing a new level of propulsion that could be optimised up to around 10k. Of course, many marathoners excelled in the shoe, but with so many options now available, you can tailor your race day shoes according to distance.
Best Racing Shoe (10km+)
ASICS – MetaSpeed Edge Tokyo – £240.00
Over the marathon distance, the Metaspeed Edge and Sky from ASICS stepped up to the line with models that provide smooth and fast performance that maintains its feel for 26 miles. The difference in the two options is the shape of the carbon plate, with the Sky being slightly flatter within the shoe and the Edge having more curve in the forefoot.
New FF LEAP and FF TURBO PLUS foam layers create a propulsive ‘pop’ that makes these the springiest feeling ASICS marathon shoes to date.
When racing the marathon, you, of course, want to go as fast as possible, but comfort has to play its part, and for us, the Metaspeed Edge manages to feel soft and cushioned but with a level of forefoot spring that remains present into the final 385 yards.
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Best for Grip
Inov8 – Mudtalon v2 – £120.00
If its grip you need, then the Mudtalon does what it says on the box. The deep, 8mm, well-spaced lugs grip the ground and provide exceptional traction on a variety of surfaces, including deep mud. The new and improved STICKYGRIP rubber is now even better in the wet, with a 36% improvement in slip resistance over the previous model.
Cushioning is 18mm deep in the heel and 12mm in the forefoot, so there’s enough cushioning for comfort, but the shoe remains light enough for speed. There’s also a 6mm deep BOOMERANG inner sole, for step-in comfort and a little added ‘spring’.
The upper is lightweight, supportive and highly breathable, as well as draining quickly should it inevitably get wet on those off-road adventures.
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