HIGHEST FIVE VOL.93
A record in Cocodona and what else is hot in running right now!
April was a good one. And a busy one. By now, Runners Highest is still me but with the help of a small contributor’s circle. That’s a really good thing as honestly i’d love to test every shoe on earth and come to (almost) every cool event brands are inviting me to. There’s much going on in the world of running - too much for someone that has a family and “another” job.
In April i was able to travel to Portland and visit Nike Campus and the Gorge Waterfalls with ACG, that was insane. I also ran (30k of) London Marathon in end of April, while the team was present at a wholesome Arcteryx community trail event near Munich and at Innsbruck Alpine Festival, even with a bib, thanks to Terrex. This weekend Runners Highest will be in France for Alsace by UTMB (racing the 28k), Hackney Half with Hoka and Zegama with ACG. Wild times we live in. And in a not to distant future, it’s UTMB week already and as i already know i’ll be in Chamonix with team Hoka (which almost feels like tradition after 5 years), we’re planning to have the team in Chamonix as well. So if you have plans that should include RH, feel free to reach out. info@runnershighest.com is your go-to here.
Another thing that’s new here and will profit from the contributor’s is the “new gear” section. It’s just not possible for me alone to do tests and reviews and all that all the time. I’d need to double my weekly mileage and i couldn’t wear my favorites in between. So we’re starting the “New Gear by RH” section in this newsletter to do short reviews of shoes & products we tested (and liked?) recently. I’m also planning a feature about my “not so short(s) journey” to find the perfect running short for everyone that’s not have the perfect legs for running shirts & tights, as that struggle is for real.
1 History rewritten at the Cocodona 250
Rachel Entrekin becomes the first woman ever to win the race overall - and does it in course record time. Faster than anyone before her. Period. I like that these news were quite big on the running news but also made it out of it and on TV. What an insane effort! Btw most pics of the finish and Rachel’s race you’ll find are from Somer Kreisman and i noticed that here pics were taken and posted and reposted all over the instagram running world and that’s shit, sometimes even without a tag or mentioning and that’s BIG SHIT.
2 OOO
I was on vacation for a week and really enjoyed being less online. Tbh 2 kids and no kindergarten can be “tough” sometimes but also insanely cool. So it was obviously fine to not be on the phone or laptop for like all day.
Had two funny “fails” i wanna tell you. First i decided to take my snobby coffee equipment with me as i usually hate on the hotel coffee. Turns out they didn’t have an electric kettle to boil the water. Duh. I then tried to use the hot water from the Nespresso machine, but i failed. Double duh.
Second fail was less concerning, i just brought my Hoka Mafate X because i completely planned on doing some nice and flat gravel runs. Well, turns out there was not one “trail” around and i ended up running the Mafate X on asphalt and the threadmill, which felt surprisingly ok. And in general i have to admit, that’s a good shoe. I didn’t feel it when i first wore it but it’s staying in the rotation for sure.
3 adidas x Satisfy is coming soon
Teased in January during PFW, Satisfy and adidas will have some event in Arizona later this week and we’ll probably know and see more about the collaboration very soon. Tbh i’m curious about the mothtech adi tee as i genuinly like the idea of that branding very much.
4 Thomas Cykana on the Human Art of Collaboration // APR MAG Interview
The homes from APR MAG did another pretty good interview, this time with Thomas Cykana, Senior Director Collaborations at Hoka. They sat down at PFW to talk collaborations in general, the “perfect” partner and how to find it, the human aspect and the benefits of collabs. Read the full interview here.
5 Innsbruck Alpine Trail Festival
Had the chance to get a bib and eqt by adidas Terrex on a short note (thx tem adi) and realized again that Innsbruck is clearly the capitol city of the German-speaking outdoors. What a beautiful city, surrounded by the mountains but with almost all pro’s of “bigger” cities. I feel studying in Innsbruck must be insane. Running and hiking and cycling all summer and getting 80+ ski days in winter kinda.
Well, Innsbruck Alpine Festival also felt pretty good, weather delivered, Terrex did some cool community activations around the Agravic (which is a nice trail shoe, but you know that already), and the DACH trail community was present very much. We’re definitely coming back!
6 Hoka XLIM Mafate Speed 2
Second drop of the collab between Hoka and Korean brand XLIM and i like the grey and orange a bit mire than the blue & black from the first one. Would be my choice for summer in this case.
7 SCANNED SOUVENIRS 3 // ACG at Gorge Waterfalls
[SCANNED SOUVENIRS] is a content series with a personal but archival approach to collect the „smaller stuff“ that we get our hands on, be it as give-aways, exclusive gifts, event merch or just small artifacts of outdoor culture. We collect and share via this series once in a while. It‘s a Runners Highest Original. [📂]
Here’s Issue 3 with stuff i got in the US in April. Check out all slides here.
8 WISE ULTRA RUNNING - NEW COLLECTION & CODE
Tis one is a bit of a longer shot but a pretty interesting concept by WISE!
In ultra-distance running, gear selection is an essential part of the success of any project. A top, a bottom, or a running pack is never just an accessory — it is a functional tool, integrated into a complete kit and designed to meet the specific demands of an adventure.
With the new WISE collection, a new product coding system has been introduced to make this selection process more intuitive and performance-oriented.
Developed around concrete functional benefits, the system is inspired by the key questions athletes ask themselves when choosing equipment: What conditions will I face? What level of protection, breathability, storage, or support do I need? How far and how intensely will I move?
Rather than focusing primarily on style or product categories, the WISE coding system is designed to help athletes quickly identify the products that best match the realities of their project and the demands of their environment.
The objective is simple: to create a clearer understanding of the collection and guide athletes toward equipment choices based on functional needs, performance expectations, and the nature of their adventure.
So WISE gives you 3 questions before choosing gear and the answers are given by the different products. What’s the occasion you want to choose your kit for? How long’s the race? How’s the weather gonna be? You’ll get a 3-digit product code and can choose from there on. Check it out here.
9 District Vision opens Flagship Store
… and it just doesn’t look like a flagship store. They created a beautiful space that invites you to stay and rest, not just a showcase for product. They showcase a “vision”. I really like that.
10 On Nike Gyakusou in 2026
So it seems Nike is going to bring back GYAKUSOU for Holiday 2026 season and ar first I was like “I AM ALL IN” as Gyakusou may be one of the most valuable partnerships for what we nowadays see in running apparel. They were miles ahead of the competition back then with the colors, the cuts, the designs and the overall ideas. Obviously with pricing as well and not few pieces ended up on sales racks (where I sometimes pulled the trigger). They definitely were a blueprint or a template for many brands that are successful nowadays.
Now we’re in a situation that’s kind of different, with Nike stock being lower than ever and many people feeling Nike has somehow lost the connect to parts of the community. A comeback of Gyakusou imho is very understandable but has more than just one risk. Here are some immediate thoughts about it.
1. Does it rely on “making big money”? I don’t think Gyakusou back in the days did – at least not from the go. And that made it a cool experiment. It was “limited”, not available everywhere. And to make big money, you’ll have to scale it. Not sure if that’s the way, at least not from the getgo. If they rely on big numbers early on in 2026, it might be a short adventure. :/
2. The state of innovation: Gyakusou 10 years was something completely new and unseen. Nike was setting the pace back then. That’s not entirely the situation anymore today, I think. Brands such as Bandit, Satisfy, SOAR, District Vision and others have taken the place of making “running fashionable” and so the running world doesn’t have the need for yet another brand tapping in that field again. Today, there seems to be a specialist brand for everything and there’s a nice recent article from Seb Beasant talking about how brands succeed when focussing on the one thing they are very good at instead of trying to do everything a little. (link: substack.com/home/post/…)
3. No clear need: Nike wants to re-connect with the running community (which they didn’t entirely succeed in Boston, right?). But I don’t know if the running scene is really waiting for a comeback of Gyakusou. What will it be? Retro releases? What will the new product be? I feel like recently ACG somehow took over the “playfield” spot that Gyakusou once had, the freedom to do stuff that’s outside of the box aka outside of the Swoosh. So I don’t fully see a space for Gyakusou.
4. It’s not repetitive: how can you repeat what Nike built back then? Can you successfully do? I unfortunately doubt it.
While Nike Gyakusou defined the look of and the vibe of “fashionable running” for almost a decade, the market has changed A LOT over the last 5,6 years. I still really look forward to 26/27 Gyakusou and I definitely want to believe in it – there are plenty of good people and creative minds at Nike. It’s just gonna be much harder. Let’s talk again later O.O
Leave your comments and thoughts please!
