Merrell Pantheon Sport
The Merrells look, feel and, tipping our scales at 397g, weigh more like a trekking approach shoe rather than a trail racer. They’re comfortable for loafing about in but just don’t give you any inspiration to run.
The chunky toe bumper, cushioned heel and inflexible sole screams fast and light walking shoe and, with a Gore-Tex outer, this is what they’d be ideally suited to.
Running any sort of trail in them feels like an effort, and even on the easy terrain loop they make your legs feel heavy and slow. Hitting the more rugged trails and despite having what appears to be a fairly aggressive sole, grip and trail feedback are a real disappointment.
Try to get up on your toes to climb and they slip out on even the least significant patch of mud. Descending is no better, and slopes that our tester normally skips carefree down became fearful, cautious teeters.
Contact : www.merrell.com
Matt Baird
Editor of Cycling Plus magazine 
