The Off-Road Challenge

Can high-tech running shoes and a GPS watch power our runner past a 339 HP range rover along a muddy trail? There’s only one way to find out...

- Luke Edwards & Spencer Hart

This month’s man vs Tech is more like man vs machine, as fitness freak, er, enthusiast Luke Edwards takes on a top-end range rover, driven by car buff Spencer hart, over a challenging off-road course somewhere in Hertfordshire. To see how good-old-fashioned muscle copes against the latest motoring tech, let’s hear from Luke and Spencer…

THE RACE FROM LUKE’S PERSPECTIVE:

The white Range Rover looks out of place in the dense forest. I stand beside it, trying to hide my pre-race nerves. The constant attack of flies, thick ferns and stench of stagnant water makes me feel like I’ve landed a part in a Star Wars film – except I have no back-up from Ewoks for this battle. What I do have is some top kit.

One of my choices is a pair of Adidas Response Long Tights, and I’m confident they’ll do a good job of keeping the flies from biting. Not that those critters will have much chance of keeping up once we set off.

We begin the race – I explode off the start line, trying to put as much distance between me and the car as possible. I can’t run flat-out, as I need to find the right footing in the undergrowth, but I still outpace the Range Rover, which is forced to slow for deep water. I imagine it being wet inside the car, too, from Spencer’s tears.

I head high through the trees to break out of the woods first. Between me and the finish line is a valley. While the Range Rover has to ease up to negotiate the hill, gravity enables me to waft down. I thought the Adidas Terrex Agravic GTX kicks would earn their worth in the mud, but it’s actually on steep declines that they impress the most. At some points, I come close to performing a bum-slide manoeuvre, yet the Continental soles make sure I don’t fall flat on my face. Ultimately, that means I stay ahead. Until the terrain levels out…