I like Irocks, I have had the black and yellow Irock originals and the red and black Irock 2's that Jonathan Albon helped design and wore several years, so when I heard VJ Sports were bringing out the Irock 3 I was eager to get a pair and give them a test.

Well, they arrived almost 4 weeks ago now and I have done over 100k in them so thought I had better put pen to paper and tell you, my thoughts.

 

Grip

VJ sports have always been known for providing shoes that grip, the tag line for the Irock 2 was #bestgripontheplanet well that's not changed, because these offer the same super amazing grip, 100k of wet mud, dry mud, hard trail, soft trail, boulders, wet wood, wet concrete, wet steel these just laugh at them all, 

SCORE 10/10

 

Comfort

The Irock 1's where more comfortable than the 2's in my opinion, I found that at the toe end of the 2's, the space between the sole and upper was small and this would often result in a blister on the end of my toe, I also found that the rock 2 had a very narrow last which was great for racing but when it came those longer training runs in the Peak District they felt uncomfortable, Now VJ say the Irock 3 have a narrow fit, which they do compared to some shoes but its wider than the previous models especially in the toe box area, my only wish would be a padded tongue as I like a little bit of cushioning on the top of the foot however I'm used to non-padded tongues so I'm no knocking marks off it just for my preference

SCORE 10/10

 

Drainage

In my 2 previous models I found that they let in a bit of debris, You know when you do events down south the wet areas are very gritty and sandy and so I found that I would have to stop every 10-15k and clean them but with the 3's they seem to have sorted that out, I don't know what they have done but I went to my local old pit slag heap that has all bits of grit and did a fair bit of running through water and I got surprisingly little inside the shoe, When it comes to drainage they drain really quickly too, I ran with a friend who had the 2's on and these dispelled water about 10 strides faster than the 2's, the only think I didn't like when getting out of water was those first 10 strides though it felt like the water was all still inside and really squelchy, but like I say it dispels fast so not a deal breaker for me

 

SCORE 9.5/10

 

Support

These perform really well, the FITLOCK system works superb to hold the arch, the heel is cut nice, the whole shoe seems to hold the foot well, going over uneven terrain the sole is flexible enough to adapt but the upper holds and supports the foot in all the right places, the only downside for me was going down hills, I tried several different ways of lacing the shoe but my foot kept sliding forward and I felt my heel coming out of the heel cup, maybe me or maybe not, tell me if you have similar issues

 

SCORE 9.5/10

 

Durability

I have only done 100k in them so I cant really say how durable they will be, they feel good though, the sole is stitched to the upper, the users feel very strong and after 100k there is no creasing of the midsole, I have done around 15k on concrete too and the soles are showing no signs of wear either

 

SCORE ?/10

 

 MY Final thoughts and score

These shoes are almost perfect for the race game, I say race game as that is what they are designed for and that's where they will be in their element, taking on multi terrains, where the key is grip and stability, they are very light and with the 6mm drop they will suit a lot of runners, (unless you have really wide feet). No matter what you thought of previous Irocks these will improve them.