Nike Pegasus Trail 4

£129.99, nike.com

Unless you’re lucky enough to live with trails right outside your front door, chances are you’ll have to cover some tarmac before you head off-road. Luckily, we’re seeing huge improvements in hybrid running shoes that easily handle both road and trail. The Nike Pegasus Trail 4 is one such jack-of-all-trades. A trusted trail workhorse built to tackle easy-going road-to-trail adventures, it packs similar responsive React midsole foam to the kind you’ll find in Nike’s road shoes. It also has quite a road shoe-like profile.

Comfort comes first

That road shoe look is deliberate, because this hybrid runner is designed to eat tarmac as well as it gobbles up off-road paths and trails. The key here is the big-stack, high-drop midsole, featuring Nike React foam. It’s similar to what you’ll find in the Nike Infinity Run daily road shoes, and creates a responsive, supportive and springy ride. There are 4mm lugs underneath but no rock plate, so if you’re looking for a shoe to tackle rocky or lumpy technical terrain, this probably isn’t it. The engineered mesh uppers have minimal studded overlays on the toe box to boost durability, but don’t expect anything as robust as regular hardcore trail shoes. You also get Nike’s Flywire technology, which works to provide better lockdown across the midfoot, help hold the foot in place and provide extra security. The wide-stretch gusseted tongue is nicely padded and foot-wrapping. It’s stitched in, so it feels as if you're almost slipping into a sock. Meanwhile, the heel collars offer plush padding with quite a rigid heel counter to boost back-end support. Flip it over and the rubber outsole lug grip pattern has been updated with a design informed by runner data. Strategically placed lugs of various shapes now provide more bite on softer terrain. The outsole also wraps up the side of the toe box and shoe to provide extra toughness.

Lighten the load

One welcome improvement is the weight, with the Nike Pegasus Trail 4 lighter than its predecessor at 280g in a UK size 8.5. That’s the lighter side of mid-weight for a trail shoe and only slightly heavier than the racey HOKA Tecton X 2. Unhelpfully, Nike helpfully doesn’t list stack heights. But you’re looking at somewhere around 36mm in the heel and 26mm in the forefoot for a forgiving and calf-muscle-friendly 10mm drop.

Softly does it

In testing, I ran around 30 miles in the Nike Pegasus Trail 4. That was mainly on hard, compacted river paths and forest trails with some grassy fields and the odd section of heavy, boggy mud. I didn’t get to test it on steeper mountain trails or rocky terrain. But I reckon, given the lack of a rock plate, this shoe will perform best on harder packed, less technical trails. For these kinds of runs, I found it well balanced. There’s a liveliness and responsiveness that helps you move across firm trails with purpose and pace and enough foot-hold security and stability underfoot to give you the confidence to take on most terrain. The Pegasus Trail 4 serves up a ride that’s smooth and cushioned enough to protect your feet without feeling disconnected to the trail underfoot. On softer surfaces, I found I could happily roll for a few hours. On harder, more compact terrain – including the road – I found it better suited to shorter distances. The shoe moves effortlessly from road to trail and back on mixed terrain runs. The grip on the Trail 4 was reliable in most of the conditions I tested. But I only occasionally found myself on steep or slippery descents and that raised some question marks over how the traction would hold up in seriously wet conditions, or on precarious or rocky terrain.

Speed: ★★★★★ Stability: ★★★★★ Comfort: ★★★★★ OVERALL: ★★★★★

Pros:

Lively, responsive yet balanced ride Good road-to-trail all-rounder Performs across a range of paces

Cons:

Almost no toe-box protection No rock plate