Vot for the All Time Best Racing Flat - No one under 30 allowed to post

Forgot to vote:

Adidas marathon 85s (grey and red model)

Currently (if you can find them) Mizuno Wave Spacers

best of the rest and worth a mention Reebok Infernos

pre841 wrote:

Okay, I am old enough to vote (43 years), I've been running since 1975. Here are my favorites:

1) Nike Oregon Waffle Racers (I still have my original pair and a reissue of the green and gold color)

2) Nike Eagles (had to retire them after they went from racing shoe, to walk around shoe, to lawn mowing shoe,...)

3) Nike Bostons

4) Nike Elites

5) Tiger Obori (still have those bad boys)

6) Nike Edge (still have my pair of alternating red and blue swoosh)

7) Tiger Bangkok (blue suede-- still have those too; my first racing shoe)

8) Nike Marathons (had two pair of those--red and blue; still have the red pair)

I wish I was still racing in order to wear:

1) Mayfly

2) Zoom Streak XC (I just got a pair of salesman's sample for my wife to race in. What a shoe! Awesome silver neon green and black swoosh design).

I picked up a pair of the black and grey Nike Eagles in my size off Ebay in my size. They're in raceable shape too.

Another vote for the Duellist. Great, great shoes.

These were huge in UK road races around the 80'/early nineties:

1. Reebok Paris (think Steve Jones wore this at Chicago ?)

2. Reebok London

3. Reebok PB Racer

My vote:

490BC - Athens Flyers: Minimalism at its best. The sole was a thin piece of leather held together by only two thin leather straps tied together on the top of the foot. Light, breathable, and rugged.

My vote for the american eagles. I was a senior in HS and Salazar made the cover of Running Times winning Boston in '82 in American Eagles. I went to Second Sole every day until the Eagles showed up, XC in SoCal does not require waffles, so the American Eagles did it for me.

why can't reebok make any decent racers these days, they have sold out!

Some great memories on this thread. I'm going to go with the Nike Duellist, white w/ black swoosh, super light, great fit. Even though they're about 15 years old I've still got a pair that sees an occasional race.

By the way, the Reebok Inferno mentioned above was not marketed as a race flat (initially anyway), it was Reebok's lightweight trainer. That's my all-time favorite shoe. Probably went through 10-12 pairs. Still have a couple pairs in the closet that I wear for fast workouts.

This thread takes me back.

1. Nike Eagles

2. Nike waffle racer . lighter than the nike elite and cool looking with lime green with black swoosh

glen c wrote:

Ontisuka Tiger Marathon

Ran all my PRs in that. (1975) Saved a pair. Ran a 5 km in them last year. No PR. Must be the shoes lost their bounce.

Tom

well yes but i never used racing flats below 220 gms, they

bugger up your knees when you're using them on 25k and over.I could have got some Brooks Conquest at 5 oz or something for 10Ks but i liked always using the same shoes for racing and I used them on marathons as well, plus long track sessions (like 4x5k) The Infernos were great, I had

about 4 or 5 pairs and used them a lot, think they weighed about 240gms in size 9.Think i wore them for the last time at New York in 96,since then, i've had three or 4 pairs of

Nike Triax TCs but they will keep changing the fit and the

feel.The first model was great, then one that felt like you

were in a small boat on a big ocean,the third series resembles more the first but not quite quite there.So i've got some Wave Spacers now , i get on fine with them but they're hard to get.

Nike Duelist

Loads of pictures and comments on old Nike (flats and others) here:

http://www.arkamix.com/vintage_nike/running/

(offset)/192

It was more of a light-weight trainer than a pure racing flat, but my vote goes to the Tiger XCalibur that was out in the early 80s. Not the Tiger XCalibur GT, mind you, but the plain ol' XCalibur.

To this day it is the standard by which I measure any type of running/racing shoe I wear.

Derderian wrote:

glen c wrote:

Ontisuka Tiger Marathon

Ran all my PRs in that. (1975) Saved a pair. Ran a 5 km in them last year. No PR. Must be the shoes lost their bounce.

Tom

i wore those shoes for 100 mile weeks back in 1973 and 74; always wanted to be 'light and fast' feeling, even in practice. Unfortunately, they helped bring about a bad case of plantar fasciitis, due to my high arches, pronation and 100 mile weeks; as they had no support at all.

American Eagle, although they were a little worrisome on wet pavement.

I thought the Air Edge was the closest thing to a spike I'd ever seen in a flat in terms of fit. A bit hard for anything more than 5K, but very nice (and long lasting) for anything else.

Never liked the Spiridon Golds (I still have my old pair, but there's no way I'd run in them over a decade later!). Too flat in support.

The Nike Elite Classic was a good shoe in its day, too.

After all this voting, how can you not go with, "Its like sex on your feet". Alert the Marketing Department!

For context, I started HS in '92..

ASICS Gel DS Racer

Mizuno Phantom (before the wave plates ruined it)

NIKE Streak Vengeance

NIKE Marathoner

NIKE Waffle Racer II (1984 shoe, got it from NIKE ID and later Nordstrom)

NIKE AIR zoom xc? (my first xc spike circa '92)

Brooks T5 (they are just so pretty)

Brooks Racer ST2 (cuz they are black n yellow)

Alan

Nike:

Eagle

American Eagle