Kit Recommendations

Here you’ll find my personal recommendations for shoes, clothing and kit.

I’ve personally used all of the kit on this page and would strongly recommend any of them to anyone.


I’ve used the Saucony Kinvara shoe for years. My first one was the Kinvara 5. And now I love the latest model - The Saucony Kinvara 10.

It’s a minimalist, lightweight running shoe that is great for everyday training.

I use the Saucony Kinvara 10 running shoe for my daily runs on roads and easy trails.


The Saucony Peregrine's are shoes that I use for some of the tougher trails.

They feel very similar to the Saucony Kinvara, which I talk about above.

Except the Saucony Peregrine's have much better grip which will get you through the tough terrain you come across in some ultra races.


I’ve used the Sunwise Windrush running sunglasses for years and have had more than 10 pairs in that time.

Mostly because I lose them!

They’re cheap, come with lots of different lenses, which means you can use them in really dark light, they’re lightweight and they keep sweat out of my eyes perfectly.

I also think the Sunwise Windrush running sunglasses are stylish! I wear them as my normal sunglasses a lot of the time.


The Ultimate Direction Race Vest 4.0 is one of my latest kit additions.

And it’s fantastic!

It’s really light and has lots of easily-accessible pockets, which make it easy to use when training and racing.

The hydration bottles are in a great position for getting to.

And it fits amazingly comfortably. I used the Ultimate Direction Race Vest 4.0 on four days of running 90 miles a day on my LEJOG world record attempt.


Scott Jurek Ultimate Direction Ultra Vest 3.0 (for JamesRunsFar.com).jpg

The Scott Jurek Ultimate Direction Ultra Vest 3.0 is a bigger version of the race vest 4.0 above.

It has all the benefits of that vest - Easily accessible storage, great fit, lightweight and a good hydration system.

And it has more storage, which makes it great for ultra-races where you have a lot of mandatory kit requirements. Or you want to carry a lot of stuff!

I’ve used the Scott Jurek Ultimate Direction Ultra Vest 3.0 in my race victories at the Autumn 100 mile race and Serpent Trail 100km race. Plus, in many other races too


I use the Salomon Trailblazer 30 Backpack for my commute.

I only typically use a bag to carry work stuff twice a week - Once on a Monday morning to take everything in. And then once on a Friday evening to bring everything else back.

Which means I need to carry a lot of clothes!

And sometimes my laptop.

And the Salomon Trailblazer 30 fits it all in easily. Plus it has front pockets for easy access to my mobile, keys or nutrition, if needed.

It fits really well too and has minimal bounce when running


I love the Omm Waist Pouch Packs for training and commuting when I need somewhere to carry my phone, keys, cards and some nutrition.

It’s also perfect for racing, as you can store quite a lot of food in it.

Top Tip - Wear the Omm Waist Pouch Pack back to front so that it doesn’t bounce up into your stomach whilst running.


I used the X-Bionic ‘Trick’ Running Top whilst running through the desert as part of the Marathon des Sables race.

It keeps you cool and dry and I never once had a problem with over-heating in the race.

It fits fantastically well too.

The X-Bionic ‘Trick’ Running Top doesn’t look great, and so I wear a thin T-Shirt over the top when training.

I didn’t care how I looked in the desert! :-)


I spend a lot of my time running in the gloomy, cold, wet weather in the UK.

And the Ronhill Running Gloves are perfect for keeping my hands warm, whilst giving me the flexibility of getting to items when I need to - like opening food packets.

I’ve used other gloves which are heavy and bulky and mean you end up faffing a lot when running.

But the Ronhill Running Gloves are great for training and racing.


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