Choosing Sprint Spikes

In a sport where one hundredth of a second is the difference between success and failure choosing the correct running spikes is essential. Over recent years technology has improved and getting it right means knowing what type of sprinter you are and in what circumstances would you use a particular shoe.

The Powerful Sprinter

This is type of sprinter is very powerful, carries lots of weight in finely tuned explosive muscle. They run shorter distances 60m, 100m and occasionally 200m always running on the balls of their feet. This type of athlete would benefit from a specialist sprint spike such as the Adidas Demolisher with a rigid sole enabling more of the power generated to be transferred into forward motion.

They would not however wear this shoe in training or possibly not for longer distances over 200m as it provides little or no cushioning on the heel. This type of sprint spike is for pure speed.

The Lightweight Sprinter

This type of athlete relies on pure natural speed and floats over the track on the balls of their feet. They prefer a sprint spike that is ultra light so they hardly know they are wearing it. The shoe will be fairly rigid still to enable more of the power generated to be converted into forwards motion but not as right or heavy as the shoe the power sprinter might choose.

Again a track shoe as specialist as this would not be used for running longer distances or anything other than high quality speed training as it would not provide the cushioning and support required over longer distances.

The Asics Japan Lightning or the Adidas Sprint Star are both examples of this type of shoe.

The Junior Sprinter

The young athlete needs an all round type of running spike. They should really be encouraged to try different events anyway but even if they are pure sprinters they would benefit from some footwear that has cushioning in the heel and mid foot for longer distances and jumping but also be lightweight and flexible to enable them to sprint.

The Adidas Edge Ariba Junior Running Spike is a great example of an all round kids running spike.

For more information on running spikes, specialist athletics shoes and running shoes visit www.return2fitness.co.uk.