Middle Pack

Inov8 have recently revealed their new kit for 2009 at the Kendal Outdoor Retail show last month. With the X-talon 212’s shown along with a further dizzying array of different shoes (Am I the only one to lose track of them all?).

They have also gone for a womens range of trail shoes built on a different last, with narrower heels to fit the female shape. No pink there though I noticed.

The main thing that was of interest to me was the updated rucksacks and bumbags. I avoided the last range due to the bright yellow colours and the horizontal bladder. Much preferring dark colours to match my mood and bottles as they are easier to fill and you do not have to carry as much water. It looks like Inov8 were thinking along the same lines. They call it “deliberately stealthy” I call it more tasteful. But I see their point. In a mountain marathon or adventure race the guy with the inov8 bag stands out like a beacon on the fells, alerting you to their presence and singling them out as a competitor and possibly near your destination.

The new bumbags are both jet black The large one (I guess to replace the race 4) now have an external bottle holder and I am guessing by the looks of the design they now have two pockets with the bottle holder in the middle of those pockets. This means no horizontal bladder. The smaller bag (to replace the race 2?) does not have a bottle holder and I am unable to tell if there is room for a bladder or not. I am waiting a response from Inov8 on that one so hopefully I can update on that soon.

The rucksacks all have similar shapes to last years models, although I notice that one of the sizes seems to be missing from the line up. That will help matters as they did have 3 bags between 18l and 22l which is a bit of overkill. This will make my decision on my next bag a difficult one as more and more lightweight rucksacks come onto the market.

Unfortunately the Lake District Mountain Trial has had to be canceled. This is only the second time in over 50 years that the event has not gone ahead (2001 was canceled due to foot and mouth). This time weather has got the better of the trial organisers. After yet another wet summer the logistics of holding the event along with concerns over competitor safety has meant that the committee have taken the drastic and brave step of canceling the event.
A shame that such an event has to be canceled, and you cannot help but feel bad that a lot of the reason is due to the amount of gas guzzling polluting cars descending on a small part of unspoiled Lakeland terrain. I know they quoted safety as a concern but specified river crossing points could have negated the concern over the river and the time at the end waiting? Well a nice 2 mile trot back to the cars would have kept the competitors warm.
It begs the question that for an event that can move around and does move around year on year, should this have been thought of before? Should there be a back up location? Basically should there have been a plan B? Or was this plan B? Had plan A already been foiled?
The committee had already caused controversy this year over their waterproof requirements on the checklist. Many people saying that they had to go buy extra “waterproof” gear. This is of concern as a potential race organiser as it implies that they didn’t have this kit before. This then means that they have broken the request of other race organisers mainly because they felt they knew better. Maybe they do and waterproof is virtually always overkill but if the organiser states they want you to wear a pink tutu with frills then if you want to race in their race you get that tutu on and get mincing.