Words: Cameron Hanson

Photography: Ruaidhri Marshall

There is no greater feeling than waking up on a bright sunny morning and heading out for a long hard day of running on the beautiful trails and mountains around you, pushing yourself to achieve greater things than ever before whether that be in competition, training or simply for the heck of it.

As a runner I want to be able to explore new places and get lost out on new trails feeling free and fully immersed in the present moment.

In order for this to happen it’s important to feel reassured in knowing the equipment you carry is durable and comfortable. Allowing you to forget your even carrying it. When I buy new kit it has to be light and perform exactly as I need it to.

Orange Mud UK were recently generous enough to send one of their running bags over to us at Dure to test out. We spent the past two weeks putting it through its paces figuring out just how well this bag will hold up under different circumstances. We tested it on three different runners in various distances.

The bag we were sent is the Orange Mud Endurance Pack

The endurance pack is made from a light mesh material that feels quite stretchable which really helps with finding a comfortable fit, combined with the adjustable straps on the sides and the two straps on the front I found it is easy to adjust it to fit my body shape.

The back of the pack has a pocket with a waterproof zip for those long runs where you might get caught in the rain. While I was testing the pack, thankfully, the weather stayed mostly sunny and so I didn’t get chance to see how well this pocket protects its contents however judging from the type of material that the pack is made from my best guess would be that it is more splash proof than water proof which is a shame, though I imagine if it does begin to rain most people would slip on a waterproof jacket over the bag so this shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

The pack came with a 2L bladder for longer adventures. The hose on the bladder at first seemed a little excessively long however it’s easy to cut it down to the length you need so it isn’t just flapping around as you run.

I found the pack to have plenty of storage despite its small size. To test this out I fully packed it up before a long run and found there was more than enough space for everything i would typically take on a long run.

The Bladder performed well across the several times I used it, I never suffered any air locks or leaks and am confident that I will be able to rely on it during day long runs.

On the first day of my test I took the bag out for a full day on the trails to get some footage and photos, I filled up the bladder and packed the bag as if I were running an ultra. To my surprise everything felt easily accessible and the bottles in the front pockets for the most part didn’t shake about, although there was a section of a run later on that was quite fast and technical where one of the bottles came loose and jumped out of its pocket.

I would say overall this is pack is perfect for most runners as it will carry plenty of fluid and food, due to how incredibly light it is at just 11.4oz, I found myself forgetting I was even wearing it apart from the sound of the bladder sloshing around on my back. My arms felt light and free without any restriction from the straps.

The material seems to be very durable and i imagine this bag last many seasons for a frequent runner.

One point I would like to make is that it would also be very suitable to most day long cycling and MTB rides as well as hikers who only require minimal kit.

Would I suggest this pack?

After my experience with the pack over this short period of time I can honestly say I probably would recommend it, although it might be a little more pricey than other packs i think the quality and simply the fact that I feel comfortable trusting it out on full day runs to me would justify the price for anyone looking to be in need of a hydration pack regularly

Once again thank you to Orange Mud for giving us the opportunity to test out this great piece of kit, keep a look out as we will be releasing a video in the coming weeks reviewing the pack so you can see for yourselves how well it fits and see some of the features previously mentioned.

To see Orange Mud's full range of products visit: https://orangemud.co.uk