I’m feeling light headed, delirious, exhausted. Looking up I see the trail wind it’s way up to an alpine pass at 2600m. A string of runners ahead of me make their way up the trail, crossing from Italy into Switzerland in the process. It’s 8am, but I’ve already been running for 14 hours, and I know I have a lot further to go. With a slightly overwhelmed sigh, I look down at my feet. Well, at least I have these cool shoes on!
The Prodigio Pro is the latest offering from mountain focused brand La Sportiva, and I was lucky enough to try a pre-release pair at last year’s UTMB. With a comfy fit, soft yet responsive foam, and classic La Sportiva grip, my shoe choice was one of the few things that went well that day. Fast forward six months they have now been released in Australia, and are already making a bit of a splash. Following on from the release of the original Prodigio last year, the Prodigio Pro has once again taken a step away from a typical La Sportiva running shoe, while still staying true to their mountain ethos. The Pro takes it up a notch from the original Prodigio, and is realistically a completely different shoe in all but name. With a 6mm drop (34/28mm) and weighing 255g, they are light and they are fast! I would put them in the same category as the Terrex Agravic Speed or the Hoka Tecton X.
Let’s start with the upper. Made from a new system named “power wire”, it is a knit of TPU coated wire reinforced with nylon. It’s unlike any other uppers I’ve seen before, but it hugs the foot really well. It breathes well, and didn’t present with any hot spots after many many hours of running. I have found that they drain reasonably well, although not as quickly as initially expected, being a full mesh upper. I imagine that is due to the foot sitting low in the foam, but regardless, it did not become an issue and dried relatively quickly. At the top of the shoe there is a knit lining collar that hugs the ankle and keeps debris out. It sits quite low, and does a good job of keeping things out. I can’t imagine it’s providing any extra support, but it does feel nice and snug. As part of this lining is the integrated tongue, along which vertical baffles of padding run under the laces. This allows a really secure tie down, without the laces cutting into the top of the foot. The toe box is quite roomy, especially for La Sportiva standards. However with this ability to really lock the laces down, there is no unwanted movement within the shoe. This is one of the few shoes I have worn that no matter how fast I run or steep the terrain, my foot does not move around. Yet the forefoot does not feel squashed or strapped in tight. A very handy property, especially when running for many hours in an ultra.
Moving down to the midsole, perhaps the biggest advance in the shoe. The newly dubbed X Flow Speed consists of two different foams: a Nitrogen infused EVA as a ‘cage’, then a nitrogen infused TPU as its “core”. From what I understand the EVA ‘cage’ helps with stability and durability, but it’s the TPU core that gives the shoe the soft yet responsive feel. And this is really the magic of the shoe, they just feel great under foot. There is no strobel board in this shoe which results in a feeling of sitting ‘in’ the foam, rather than on top of it. My intention was to keep this as a race shoe, but I am finding that I want to put it on for many different types of runs. Despite its classification as a trail super shoe, there is no carbon plate. A deliberate strategy that gives it more flex in the forefoot than others in the category, and results in more control over technical terrain. The X Flow foam does the heavy lifting in terms of energy return, and providing protection from rocks. However I have found that the occasional rock can be felt when on the really rocky and techy stuff. Continuing our vertical stratification, the sole is La Sportiva’s patented and well known ‘FriXion’ rubber, this time utilising ‘FriXion White’, which is the stickiest of the range. Anyone who has run or climbed in La Sportiva shoes before can attest to the quality of their soles. This leaves you with a feeling of confidence knowing your foot will stick when you want it to. There are 4mm lugs for biting into the dirt and mud, but the shoe also feels great when you get moving along hard packed gravel or bitumen.
All in all I think the Prodigio Pro is a fantastic shoe. A lateral step from the rest of the La Sportiva range, with perhaps the potential of appealing to a wider audience. From a brand that has long been respected for making high quality technical mountain gear, they have managed to continue this while keeping up with the increasing speed of shoe technology. Firmly planted in the trail super shoe camp, they manage to straddle the line between performance running and confidence over mountain terrain. An accomplishment that should not be underestimated.
