Price: $130
Type: Road
Weight: 7.6 oz (M), 6.9 oz (W)
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I’ve often joked that Runner’s World needs a “Leave It Alone” award—an honor bestowed upon shoes that go unchanged from one season to the next. You certainly know the feeling if you’ve ever found a shoe you truly love only to find it altered (and not always for the better) a few months later.
Other Hearst Subscriptions Clifton, which took the running world by storm when it was released in 2014. The model is now on version 5 and isn’t at all like its older brother. The Clifton 5 is the heaviest Clifton yet, weighing in at 10.1 oz. In fact, every version since the original has been heavier than the previous one.
Jack Rabbit Men's CA Notice at Collection Clifton 1
But, for those of us who loved that first pair, or runners who want to see if the cult classic lives up to the hype, there’s good news: For a limited time, runners can snag a pair of the OG Clifton. Hoka dusted off the molds and cranked out pairs built exactly as they were four years ago. But this time around, the shoe is available only online and in a handful of specialty running shops.
At the time the original was released, we gave it an Editors’ Choice award and wrote, “Our lighter, faster runners found the shoe to be as adept at 10k race pace as it was during an easy recovery run. The midsole isn’t as beefy as earlier Hokas, making it lighter on your foot. The real weight saving comes in the upper, where thin, welded-on overlays secure the foot. Even so, wear-testers with narrow feet said the forefoot was too roomy.”
The news may be met with reservation by some runners, however. The Clifton 1 suffered from a bit of a sloppy fit (subsequent versions were much narrower). I raced a 10-K in the original pair and revisited my training log today.
“One ding: yank the flimsy sockliner,” I wrote at the time. “It slid backward about an inch. Didn’t bother me in the race, but I felt it walking shortly after when cooling down, so I pulled them out completely.”
I can’t wait to get them on my feet to see if they’re as great as I remember. Now excuse me while I go order a pair.
Jeff is Runner-in-Chief for Runner's World, guiding the brand's shoes and gear coverage. A true shoe dog, he's spent more than a decade testing and reviewing shoes. In 2017, he ran in 285 different pairs of shoes, including a streak of 257 days wearing a different model.
