Created for the all-day adventurer and born out of the Serra del Cadí Mountains of Catalonia, the Cadi is built for versatile trail running performance on mixed terrain. It benefits from a new wider toe box and, compared to other shoes in NNormal's lineup, a wider base to run on for confidence and stability on that mixed terrain. The Cadi is built on the idea that comfort should last from start to finish.

Key features include:

• Lightweight and breathable translucent upper engineered mesh
• 4mm Vibram Litebase outsole
• New lacing system that makes dialing in your fit a pleasure
• First shoe from NNormal to have men's and women's specific lasts.
• EExpure foam midsole a supercritically formed EVA that provides a soft feel that lasts longer and feels lighter

The Cadisits somewhere between the Tomir and the Kjerag for softness underfoot.

Stats

• Stack height: 29mm/35mm
• Drop: 6mm
• Lug length: 4mm
• Weight: 275g

I've always been a firm believer that testing trail running shoes in the muddy Welsh winter is quite possibly one of the best tests of a shoe's capabilities. Being a huge advocate of the Tomir and Kjerag Brut's winter mountain running prowess, I was keen to see how the Cadi, the new trail running shoe from Nnormal, held up on the muddy hills of Wales.

The first thing that's noticeable is that the Cadi doesn't feel like a traditional NNormal shoe but in a good way. It's soft and accommodating, and the new lace system makes it really easy to dial in your perfect fit. The tongue is gusseted like NNormal's other lineup, but the Cadi has an additional built-in internal overlay which means that when you pull both laces down, they lock down evenly with no additional faffing. 

Full disclaimer: the laces are very long, so a double knot is required to stop them flapping about.

I chose a size UK10 in the Cadi, which worked great (I'm minimum a UK 9.5), so going up a half size is preferable for me. I don't have a particularly wide foot, but some may get closer to true-to-size.

On the first run, the stability of this shoe is noticeable. The heel is notably soft with a good locked-in feel. I experienced no heel slippage at all, so no need to do any fancy runner's lace lockdown. The tongue has a decent amount of padding and is soft and comfortable against the top of the foot. There's a handy pull tab at the back of the shoe for additional help getting in and out, but I found the slip-in-and-out experience very easy without using this and probably wouldn't miss it if it wasn't there.

There is a noticeable heel flare which translates to additional stability on flatter sections of trail. The new wider base guides you over the trails with ease and feels great on those flatter sections which really makes you finish your run wanting more.

On first glance, this shoe looks like a tank, but it's anything but in the weight department. At 270g in a men's size 9, this is only marginally more weighty than the Kjerag Brut, which makes for a smooth, stable ride. I occasionally imagined myself bounding along trails in the Serra Del Cadi or ridges of Mallorca with ease with the warm mountain air in my face, I then snapped out of my dream and focussed on running against driving rain and muddy hillsides.

Uphill: Running uphill on technical and muddy terrain, the Cadi feels light and nimble, and the 4mm lugs give decent grip so you can fly up those inclines.

Downhill: When it comes to downhills, the Cadi performs really well with decent traction in a variety of conditions. It's not as confidence-inspiring as the Kjerag Brut on steep wet ground, but still pulls off a decent downhill performance. It was noticeable that the Vibram Litebase performs very well on wet and dry rock, giving you confidence to spring across those sections with ease, putting you in touch with your inner mountain goat.

Long Distance

For the long run test, the Cadi gives all-day comfort and feels like the perfect trail companion. The more I ran in the shoe, the more I believed that the Cadi could go longer and harder than I initially thought. This is definitely a comfortable trail companion from short trail runs up to ultra trail distance.

I think the Cadi is a great shoe and has opened NNormal out to compete with other popular trail shoes like the Speedgoat and other general trail tanks. It's stable, lightweight, and great fun to run in. NNormal pride themselves on product longevity and aim to make products last twice as long as competitors.

At £140, the Cadi is now a great option from both a price and capability perspective. I think the Cadi is going to give trail lovers an excellent experience and will be one of those shoes that turns out to be very good value per mile compared to others in the same category, it really is a shoe for everyone.