Running the Bruce Trail

Every winter runner needs to try these

This winter I got so frustrated running on Toronto’s icy trails that I tried studding an old pair of my running shoes with tiny brass wood screws.

The following should have been obvious, but I will say it anyway. The problem with putting screws in your shoes is that it’s easy to get the sharp end to point up into your foot, but hard to get it to point down into the ice. My homemade studs were a failure.

La Sportiva found just the thing in the world of auto racing: tiny spikes for hand-studding rally-car tires. They’re made of a fancy wear-resistant tungsten alloy with a flat corkscrew base that will embed firmly into the lug of a shoe without pricking into your feet.

La Sportiva now sells this little hand-studding kit for $45, which comes with a studding tool and 20 studs—enough for one to two pairs of shoes (replacement studs sans tool are $18).

I started off conservatively putting five studs each into my worn-out Crosslites (the ones I ran the first 550 km of the Bruce Trail in). The thick lugs in the Crosslites are well suited for holding studs, but I think you could probably stud any running shoe. My package came with a couple of different screw lengths, with the shorter ones better for the thin forefoot section of a road shoe.

Five studs per shoe was enough for excellent grip on ice. I ran post thaw-freeze cycle on completely packed and refrozen trails, and even walked over icy wave-blasted rocks beside Lake Ontario. With the remaining 10 studs added, I could have gone mountaineering.

The metal nipples protrude a good 4-5 mm from the sole so they’d wear out fast on pavement, but they’re great on ice or anywhere else serious traction is required (log driving?). I carry my studded shoes in my bag when I run from home to the trails and then quickly change shoes once I get off the pavement.

This is the best grip solution for icy winter running I’ve seen yet. Unlike strap-on traction devices, there’s nothing to wrap around the top of your feet and rub or interfere with circulation, and nothing that can slip or fall off.

The studs can be removed so if you wanted you could stud your trail shoes for winter and de-stud them in the spring. I was happy to give my old trail shoes a second life as winter ice runners. So now I own regular trail shoes, winter trail shoes, good road shoes, second-tier road shoes, and Nike Free “barefoot” shoes, plus new tap dancing shoes (y’know, those old road shoes with the brass screws in the soles?). But that—my role in keeping Chinese cobblers and closet organizers employed—is a whole other story.