Race

Brooks Hyperion Elite 5

Brooks' carbon-plated road racer — PEBA foam, under 200 g, and nothing on it you do not race in.

The Hyperion Elite 5 is Brooks' race-day shoe. DNA GOLD, a hundred-percent PEBA foam, sits over an Arris carbon-fibre SpeedVault+ plate that Brooks sizes shoe by shoe, and the whole thing comes in under 200 g at an 8 mm drop. Brooks aims it at road races from 5K up to the marathon.

It suits the days the clock matters. Like every super-shoe it wants race effort — run it easy and you carry the stiffness without getting anything back for it.

It is not a trainer. PEBA is expensive and it does not survive daily mileage, so treat the shoe as a budget of race kilometres plus a handful of sharpening sessions, and do your easy running in something you do not mind wearing out.