Ain’t your average running pack
Trail running packs have always been a bit of a tough one for me. I've never really enjoyed running longer distances on the trails because I really didn’t like running with a pack. I'm quite a light runner and I've always found that most packs feel oversized once they're loaded up. They bounce way too much for me, move around on the more technical stuff and it ends up changing how I’m running.
The Soar Trail Race Pack has been the first one that's genuinely disappeared once I've started running. I've now used it for both the Motatapu Marathon and the Wānaka Ultra 50km and I honestly love this pack for this sort of distance.
Performance First
There's no avoiding the fact that this is one of the more costly products we stock at Heatwave, but as always, Soar has never been about making the cheapest gear. Every product they make is designed with one goal, to help you perform better.
Soar developed the pack over 3 years and I was lucky enough to visit the SOAR HQ back in 2024 and saw some of the first prototypes of this vest being developed. It only officially released this summer, so it's been pretty cool to see the final product after watching where it started.
This vest isn't made for hiking or carrying tonnes of gear. It's been designed specifically for runners who want to move fast and efficiently over longer distances.
The Difference
The first thing you notice when you put the vest on is how high it sits on your torso and back. It hugs your body more like a piece of clothing than a traditional running vest. Once you've got it dialled in, it barely moves.
A lot of that comes down to the way SOAR has built the vest. They've gone with three different materials across the pack. The quad-axial mesh through the shoulders and back keeps everything breathable while giving the vest a crazy amount of stability, the Dyneema blend front panel stops the pack stretching and distorting once it's loaded up and then a French-woven stretch side panels under the arms let it move naturally with your body without ever feeling loose.
Soar co-developed its own bottle system with Hydrapak, using curved banana shaped flasks that wrap around your ribs instead of sitting vertically on the front of your chest. That means the vest can sit much shorter down your back, while also spreading the weight around your body rather than having all of the weight of the bottle bouncing up and down vertically with every stride. The women's version of the vest also been redesigned so the bottles sit beside the bust rather than in front of it, making the fit more comfortable while keeping everything just as stable.
All of this combined made for a vest which exceeded all my expectations. Late into both trail races, the pack wasn't something I was thinking about, which is probably the biggest compliment you can give a piece of longer distance kit.
It all fits!
For both races I carried everything I needed. It was definitely on the tighter side, but it never felt like I was trying to cram everything in. The pack has around 8L of storage, which I found to be more than enough for races like these.
It comfortably carried:
- Mandatory kit (rain jacket, thermal top, beanie, gloves, first aid kit and emergency blanket)
- 9 Gels
- Phone
- 2x 500ml soft flasks
It's not designed for huge multi-day adventures or 100-mile races with massive mandatory kit lists, but for trail marathons through to shorter ultras it works an absolute treat.
Should you get one?
If you're looking for a pack you'll use a handful of times each year and you're not too worried about moving as efficiently or quickly as possible, there are plenty of other great options that tick a lot of boxes.
But if you're someone chasing PBs, racing regularly or simply appreciate well designed equipment that gets out of your way, the value is there.
Marginal gains get spoken about a lot in the endurance world and I genuinely think this is one of them. It's one of those products you don't really notice while you're running and that's exactly why I’ve been enjoying it. I used to avoid longer runs that I needed to carry gear on because I didn’t want to wear a pack, now I look forward to being able to put it to the test again.
The materials are exceptional, the construction is premium and every part of the design feels meticulously thought through. Like the rest of the SOAR range, it's a product that's been built around performance and enhancing the running experience. An absolute banger.