Maintaining all that worked well on the previous 860, the shoe’s engineers and designers have made intricate tweaks such as bringing more medial ground contact through the use of rubber surfaces that enable its Stability Web to be slightly smaller.

Judging from the number of runners donning 2XU compression wear at the races we’ve attended, its local distributor, Key Power International (KPI), would probably resonate with some familiarity at the back of many minds. RunSociety has some pleasant news for those who have not already heard: KPI has officially opened its new showroom and outlet store.

In 1980, Terrance Stanley “Terry” Fox – a one legged amputee and cancer victim – embarked on a cross-Canada run in a quest to raise money and awareness for cancer research. The athlete, turned Canadian humanitarian and cancer research activist, lasted 143 days and completed 5,373 kilometres before succumbing to the disease. All was not lost.

“Never judge a book by its cover.” I say never judge a shoe by its brand. Like many Singaporean runners, I had never heard of Montrail previously.

At the dawn of the New Year, we created quite a stir when we debuted 2012’s Singapore Running Calendar. Truth be told, we’re not done yet.

Organised by the NUS Business School Alumni, the NUS Bizad Charity Run saw an estimated 500 runners. This year’s event is a build-up from 2011’s encouraging drive where S$30,000 was raised – of which 100 percent of proceeds were dispersed to adopted beneficiaries.