First Impression on the Saucony Virrata...

By Frank

The long awaited all new to the Saucony natural motion series, the 0mm heel to toe offset Virrata is on it's way to our Malaysian shore. I however was lucky to try them on as early as mid last year when I went for a "preview event". Moving on to Spring 2013 today, while awaiting for the arrival of this highly sought new model, I again was lucky enough to receive the sample pair courtesy from Saucony Malaysia.

I have yet to give the Virrata a go yet running on the road, but did put it on to walk around. Immediately upon putting on, I felt the sizing to be a little off as compared to the Saucony Kinvara 3. It's a bit on the longer side but not too overly tight on the toe box. Probably caused with the lack of FlexFilm but I actually felt comfortable with the expandable width of the toe box. And to make it even better, it's seamless hence no irritation or hotspots. Oh, and yes. It's very light too weighting in at just 184Grams for a size men US9.0.

So light I can balance the Virrata with 2 fingers.

The outsole is build on 24 EVA+ triangular pods just like the Kinvara series. However, only a slight portion of the heel and the forefoot area is reinforced with the XT-900 blown rubber hence exposing lots of EVA+ rubber to the elements. It does look like an area that will wear fast but I could be wrong as it has a pretty similar build like the Saucony Hattori which last like forever for me.

Due to exposed EVA+ rubber, I do feel that the Virrata to be on the softer side. I do prefer the slight firmness on the Kinvara 3 as it produced more "bounce" rather to sink in. However at a stack height measured at 18mm opposed to the 23mm of the Kinvara 3 and a 0mm heel to toe off-set, it may actually proved different when I take it for a ride soon.

Spring 2013 Virrata men's colourways.

The Virrata should be arriving on Malaysian shores in mid April 2013 (fingers and toes cross) offering 3 Spring 2013 colours for men which is Black/Citron/Red, Citron/Dark Blue and White/Black/Red retailing at an amazing price of just RM299! The ladies will get 2 colour options being Black/Citron/Pink and Orange/Red. I personally like the awesome striking colour of the Citron/Dark Blue which is why I will be using that particular pair at the coming Twilight Ultra Challenge where I shall put it to the maximum gruesome test. Do stay tune for my review next. In the meantime, here is some technical aspect of the Virrata to keep you drooling for now.