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Super Speedy Summary Review

I’ve dubbed the Topo Athletic MT-3 as the ‘City to Summit’ shoes. They have a tread pattern that’s as good for pounding pavement to and from trail as it is when you get on rock, mud or the wet. They have a wide toe box and foot shape that will help people who get blisters on their toes from narrow shoes. There is a superb amount of cushioning from 25mm of padding and a very slight drop of 3mm from heel to toe which means people who get achilles niggles from zero drop shoes will love them.

Their biggest feature is how they ‘handle’. They are tight and secure round the heel and mid foot giving you great control over uneven terrain, but loose and comfy like a slipper at the front where your toes want the space. They are a Racing Car at the back and Soccer Mom SUV at the front.

PURCHASE $110

In Depth Review

This shoe gets it. It understands what you really need for most of your training runs. When I tell people I’m a trail runner I know deep down that actually If I thought about it I spend rather a lot of time on tarmac as well. To and from trails, the odd road, it all adds up and I find that wearing aggressive trail shoes with large lugs means the grip gets trashed on the ‘black op’ miles I put in to and from trail.

The Glorious Death of the 4mm Heel Wedge Bodge

Moving to trail running shoes with a wide foot shaped toe box was one of the best things I did when I jumped to longer distance running because it gave my toes and feet the room they needed at the front and meant I hardly got blisters anymore. My issue has always been that most wide toebox brands opt for a zero drop shoe. Whilst this gives you a more natural running foot strike ( like being in flip flops) by having your heel and toe at the same height has always given me a tight and slightly painful Achilles tendon. I’ve always ‘bodged’ this in the past with a 4mm heel wedge, and then had to do heel lock lacing to deal with the changed heel position.

These MT3 shoes have a 3mm drop as standard so I no longer need to do me ‘heel bodge’ and as a result I finally get to run in shoes I don’t need to butcher straight out of the box.

Wide Toe Box

Most running shoes aren’t foot shaped. If you regularly get blisters or bruises on your toes its because she manufacturers try to make a shoe that looks cool not one that feels comfortable when running. by having a wide natural foot shape at the front Topo Athletic are giving your toes the space they need to move and breathe giving you a more comfortable run or hike and much less chance of blisters.

Ortholite Inserts

The shoes come with thick squishy ortholite inserts which complement the shoes neutral gait and help absorbs odor and bacteria when running.

Nascar meets SUV

I find that when I’m running on tricky or rocky terrain I want my shoes laced up as tightly as possible so that there is no movement between the shoes and my feet. I want security and the confidence to know exactly where my feet are so I don’t roll and ankle or fall.

The MT3 has a very secure heel which means I get all the confident handling of a tightly laced shoe with none of the discomfort. Better still with the wide toe box at the front these feel like a race car at the back and a comfy SUV at the front. The 25mm cushioning also means I don’t feel like I want a rock plate in the middle with these as the cushioning does a great job to protect my arches from rocks. It really does feel like running in ‘sports slippers’.

Breathable Uppers

The upper materials are breathable and seem to dry out fast when they get wet too. Up close the mesh has a very fine weave that does quite a good job of repelling splashes too.

Laces and Lugs

The shoes avoid having metal lugs and instead have stitched mini material loops that the laces pass through. I suspect this gives you more lacing options and saves weight on the lugs as well as distributing the contact and tension across a wider part of your foot for comfort.

Grip

The undersides don’t look that impressive at first glance. I tend to want to see huge lugs with aggressive spiky rubber bits to grip on trail. The trouble is that large lugs often clog easily with dirt and mud leaving you with a heavy foot, and the road miles you do means the sticky rubber lugs wear down first and fast and quickly don’t work properly.

The grip on the MT3 seems to do well on a multitude of surfaces. By not having large lugs you get much more actual surface contact with rock and trail and I found they even grip well on wet rock when I’m running. They are just as suited pounding the pavement as they are running on trail

Gripes

No obvious gripes jump out at me, but my personal preference is to always want an all black pair.

Women’s Topo Athletic MT-3

Shona took the Women’s MT-3 straight out of the box and ran a 50km unsupported day on The Mattabesset Trail.

Shona noticed that the grip was slightly compromised on wet rock but that it was a good trade off to get good grip across a wide range of surfaces. Like me she felt that these were a superb all day/every day training shoe that you might switch up to the Ultraventure for race day on longer trails.

I agreed with Shona that these probably had the cushioning to keep your feet happy up to Marathon distance on trails, but anything further and you would probably want to switch up to the Ultraventure for a but more ride comfort and secure grip on trail.

Verdict

I’ve dubbed these the ‘City to Summit’ shoes. They have a tread pattern that’s as good for pounding pavement to and from trail as it is when you get on rock, mud or the wet. They have a wide toe box and foot shape that will help people who get blisters on their toes from narrow shoes. There is a superb amount of cushioning from 25mm of padding and a very slight drop of 3mm from heel to toe which means people who get achilles niggles from zero drop shoes will love them.

Their biggest feature is how they ‘handle’. They are tight and secure round the heel and mid foot giving you great control over uneven terrain, but loose and comfy like a slipper at the front where your toes want the space. They are a Racing Car at the back and Soccer Mom SUV at the front.

These shoes would suit people who find their running shoes too tight around the toes, are looking for comfort and cushioning on anything from a run/hike to an Ultra Trail run and people who want a shoe that’s as good for a mixture of terrain.

PURCHASE $110

Closest Contender

The Altra Lone Peak 4 comes in as the closest contender, but some may not like the zero drop and the price tag compared with the MT3.

About Topo Athletic

Topo Athletic was founded in 2013 by Tony Post. Born and raised in Colorado, Tony headed to Tulsa, OK for college and walked onto the D1 track and cross country teams, eventually becoming the team captain. More importantly, Tony fell in love with running.

With ambitions to train harder and get faster, Tony moved to Massachusetts and started training with a few top runners on Boston’s north shore. Unfortunately, his goals were often thwarted by injury, over-training, or ill-fitting shoes. Like many runners, he began working in the shoe industry where he learned everything he could about making footwear.

After 35 years in the industry, Tony knew there was still something missing from the market—a shoe that allowed runners to access the important benefits of natural running while maintaining some of their favorite features found in traditional running shoes. Intent on delivering the best natural running shoes in the world, Tony set out to establish his own footwear company in 2013.