Hitting The Descent: Arc'teryx Launch For Sylan 2

Running downhill sounds easy, until your legs file a complaint two days later. At Arc’teryx’s Sylan 2 launch in the Southern Highlands, runner Sophie Lane swaps blue skies for rain, mud and mist, and finds that the wettest, squelchiest trails might be the best ones.

One wrong step, and I’ll be sliding down this hill, I thought.

As much as I enjoy getting amongst it, I’m happy to draw the line at a face full of mud. As trail runners, we get pretty caught up in training for the ‘hard’ parts of the race, which for most people, is the ascent.

Running uphill is hard. It gets your calves burning, heart racing, and your lungs can never quite find enough air, but what we often forget about is the descent.

Running downhill sounds easy, right? Just let gravity take you – no effort required.

But now, two days after a mere 11.5km trail run, as I grunt and groan hobbling down the two flights of stairs in my apartment building, I’m reminded that maybe the descent is more challenging than I once gave it credit.

It’s 6:45am, raining, and I’m lining up outside a 53-seater white coach with a backpack full of snacks and spare clothes.

No, I’m not heading to The Great Aussie Bush Camp. I’m on my way to Caoura Cliffs, a private 1100-acre wedding venue in the Southern Highlands of NSW.

The site is situated on Gundungurra and Dharawal land near a small town now known as Tallong. The name means ‘tongue of the land’ or ‘place of running water’, which neatly describes the epic escarpment and gorges in the distance.

I was on my way to The Descent, an intimate trail running event with Arc’teryx for the launch of their new trail racing shoe, the Sylan 2.

After a few hours on the freeway, including a short stop at the servo to fix the aircon (the lack of airflow and increasingly warm bus-ride really added a layer to the whole school-trip nostalgia), the high rises turned to open paddocks and the traffic disappeared.

The rain that had been hammering down all morning suddenly cleared, we saw glimpses of blue sky through the condensation-covered windows, and there was a feeling amongst the group that today was going to be a really special day.

We must have climbed a decent way to reach our final elevation as thick fog started to set in, and by the time we arrived it was almost a complete white-out. The incredible view that we were promised was hidden by dense cloud, at least for now.

We checked in and grabbed our race shirt, hat, and bib. I was lucky number 32. Not sure if 32 is a universally accepted lucky number, but I was relying on all the superstitions I could get to help me have a successful run, so we’ll go with it.

Then it was onto the shoes. The real reason we were brought together today, the Arc’teryx Sylan 2.

For the gear nerds out there here are the specs:

• 268g (Men’s size US 9)
• 6mm drop (31.5mm in the heel, 25.5mm in the forefoot)
• Vibram Megagrip outsole (big win!) with 4.5mm/3.5mm lugs
• Carbon fibre plate and a super-critical foam compound
• Engineered woven upper
• PFAS free

For those less-nerdy running folks, this shoe is designed to go fast! The combination of the carbon plate, light and responsive foam, plus the rockered sole geometry, means the Sylan 2 is designed for efficient propulsion. And that’s just the midsole! The most important component of any trail shoe for me personally is the outsole – it needs to be grippy. In this aspect, the shoe totally excelled.

Vibram has become the standard of outsole rubber across most trail shoes these days, and for good reason. Anyway, enough about the shoes, let’s talk about how the race went.

There were two options for the day:

1. Community Trail Run – 7.5km
2. Elite Trail Race – 11.5km

Now this presented quite the conundrum. Am I elite? Absolutely not. I’d say I’m a comfortable mid-packer at best. But, am I competitive? Yes.

So, when given these two options, I couldn’t say no to the harder option. How elite could it really be?

So, with my brand-new bright orange Sylan 2s, elite race bib, and mandatory 300ml of water, I got to the start line. We’d been through a pre-race briefing and were told that the first 3.5km was the hardest part, with a lot of elevation.

There was a total of 465m of climbing over 11.5km but the majority of that was in the first half. It was called The Descent, after all.

We were sent off in waves of 5 to 10 people, one-minute apart so it was quite an intimate start. With a very unofficial ‘go!’ from Race Director Buzz, and some minor hesitation from the group, we set off through the beautifully-constructed wooden arch, into the unknown trails ahead.

We galloped through an open field before beginning the descent through the trees and into the valley below. I was apprehensive about the steep muddy downhill sections, but very quickly felt at ease after feeling the stability, grip, and groundfeel of the Sylan 2s.

If you’d have asked me last week what are the best conditions to be out in nature? Without hesitation I would have said something like ‘a warm sunny day, clear blue sky, no wind, and no rain’.

We didn’t have those conditions today. But maybe rainy trail runs are actually superior? Nature comes alive in the rain. The green leaves were greener, our footsteps squelchier, and the mist in the valley created a real sense of being immersed in the environment.

After traversing some technical, muddy trails, the path opened up and we were rewarded with a panoramic view of the valley below. Instead of the typical beautifully-framed bride and groom, there were sweaty, muddy and over-joyed trail runners taking selfies and topping up their water flasks.

A few k’s later I came through the finishing arch, fellow runners cheering me on through chattering teeth in the ice-baths, electrolytes in hand. We hosed off, got warm and were treated to an incredible buffet lunch cooked over an open fire.

Not quite my regular choccy milk with eggs on toast, but I survived.

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INSIDER KNOWLEDGE:

Sophie Lane is running-obsessed. If she’s not out on the trails preparing for an ultra, she’s talking about it, documenting it, or coaching people to get better at it. She hosts a podcast called Stronger Stride interviewing athletes, health professionals and researchers on the how and why behind the sport.