Our review of the Keen Seek brings together two distinct perspectives from our testers, Richard Bailey and Clair Heaviside. With different running styles, terrain preferences, and expectations from a trail shoe, their combined insights offer a well-rounded take on how the Seek performs out on the trails.

Richard Bailey

When Kate contacted me and asked whether I would be up for trialling the Keen Seek trail running shoe, I jumped at the opportunity – who wouldn’t want to try out a new trail runner to include in my ever growing arsenal of shoes to include in the rotation of shoes I presume we might all have in various states of dryness and smells out in the garage?  Then the second thought was “never heard of Keen”, google search time.

So it appears Keen have been in the shoe making business for 20 years, family owned, impressive ethical positioning, PFAS free (PFAS chemicals are long lasting toxic chemicals which are bad for the planet and therefore bad for us) and reputed to be durable and long lasting – impressive statistics and an impressive web site to boot. https://www.keenfootwear.co.uk/

Key Features

• 4mm lugs
• QuantumFoamX high-energy cushioning sole
• Padded tongue and collar
• Generous forefoot space for toes and splay
• Lace knot garage (pocket in the tongue to shove the knot in)
• Gaiter ready – cut out in the upper and hook and loop attachment in the heel
• 6mm heel-to-toe drop
• RRP £160

My shoes arrived in mid-December, and having just completed the Scott Cheviot Goat Ultra at the beginning of the month, and with a slight niggle to my right ankle, I was pleased that these shoes are aimed at the long distance comfort end of the market, not for the younger racing snakes looking for super-fast shoes and ultimate lightness, think those days are over for me in my mid-fifties.

In my usual choice of INOV8 shoes I prefer a wide fitting UK size 9, these shoes also arrived in a size 9 – I might have got away with a size 8 ½, but always better a size up than a size down. Width wise they were fine for my broader foot, pleasingly I never experienced any foot roll on tricky terrain like I have done with other wider fitting shoes. The colourway of my shoes on the website identifies as Black/Sunset Sand, on the box it says Black/Cameo Rose, to my eyes they appeared like a washed out pink sole with a blended beige and black upper – I have to admit, they weren’t immediately to my liking, but with all the wet weather and mud about, I knew they wouldn’t stay like this for long.

Living in the southern part of the Peak District, my regular training routes include among others, the technical Bosley Cloud summit, offering higher gritstone trails and lower sections of shoe sucking field mud before dropping onto canal pathways – is it just me or is there anything more slip inducing than canal towpath mud?  

Over my trial period I rotated these shoes with other proven favourites from INOV8 and La Sportiva, and I have to say the hugging foot feel from the padded tongue and ankle collar was amazing, I truly feel that the stability they afforded me helped in part to my recovery from the ankle niggles I experienced post Goat Ultra. 

Whilst the 4mm lug depth is pretty standard and advertised for muddy trails with many of the trail shoe manufacturers, I have grown to prefer a deeper lug, so the Keen’s weren’t always my first choice when I knew I was tackling the Peak District moorland bogs. I did wonder whether these lugs would have been better and offered more grip if they had a wider spaced lug pattern, I did slip a few times in areas that I felt other shoes with a similar lug depth would have coped better.

These shoes come with attachments for gaiter use, but only hook and loop heel tab and an upper forefoot cutout, my favoured gaiters are Salomon with the underfoot strap, which sadly I couldn’t use due to tread pattern on the Keen’s not offering any arch area tread cutout. Having said that the ankle collar, whilst not ankle grabbing tight, did a great job in preventing debris entering the shoe and as I am usually a heel-lock lace tyer I never lost a shoe in the sucking mud of this back end, but consequently as a heel-lock advocate meant that the included lace knot garage on the tongue couldn’t be put to use – nice extra feature though, and I learnt it’s called a lace garage!

The upper material is advertised as being “ultra abrasion-resistant performance textile upper”, I would concur that I felt the uppers will last many miles of hard use. Of a slight concern is that they might be a little warm in summer conditions, but the beauty of trail running is that we often experience some water crossings on our adventures which does a great job in cooling hot toes down mid trail. There is a rubber reinforcement on the toe bumper, instep/outstep and heel area of the shoe, which all adds up to a shoe made to last with some well sourced materials that all appeared of great quality – I expect Keen have drawn on their boot making experience here?

An area which I have experienced issues with other shoes is heel slippage and heel cup foam wear, in other shoes I often glue heel-up pads before using, these Keen shoes excelled in this area, I experienced no wear and more importantly no foot sliding in the heel cup area – top marks Keen!

I mentioned at the start of my review that I might have got away with a half size smaller; in an ideal world we would all have access to a running shop stocking an array of multi brand shoes to try before we buy, but many don’t have this luxury. With this in mind a negative I did experience was that whilst this shoe didn’t feel as wide fitting as an Innov8 wide fit, the forefoot section seemed rather rectangular in shape rather than “foot” shaped, whilst I love room for toes to splay, especially when wearing toe socks, I did feel the Keen’s had room in areas that I didn’t really need it – but I am perhaps nit-picking and we all have different sized feet.

The insoles whilst basic are removable and on my last run in them I popped an excellent Boomerang insole into the Keen’s which worked really well, which would also favour runners who use orthotic insoles I guess.

Popping a size 9 shoe on our kitchen scales (pretty sure I cleaned it after making a meal), it showed a weight of 325 gram – so not in the category of a lightweight speed pump, but surprisingly I did record a Strava downhill technical segment PR on a well-run route, in the wet with a headtorch which proved to me that these shoes give confidence when all the planets do occasionally line up!

So to sum up, where do I see these shoes fitting in with the myriads of other trail shoe offerings? 

• They excel in build quality and foot stability out on the trails
• I wouldn’t choose them for predominately bog trails
• They would be brilliant for transitions from road or hard backed tracks to technical terrain
• Heel cup design is excellent
• I think they might be better as a winter shoe in colder conditions
• They are built to last
• If environmental build credentials are a high priority
• Keen trail shoes are well worth keeping an eye on for more designs in the future

If I had to rate these trail shoes out of 5, I would give them a 4 – but not the colourway I trialled – it still looks like washed out pink in my opinion, even with copious amounts of Peak District moorland bog on them!

Richard’s scores: Design: 8 · Features: 8 · Performance: 7 · Value: 7

About Richard: Working in the moorland and rural sector has always kept me fit, but structured training opened the door to more competitive trail running. After a series of Peak District trail races, I progressed to the ultra distance, finishing second in the V50 category at the September Lap 2025. December 2025 brought a significant step up in physical demands with the Scott Cheviot Goat, thankfully, years spent working in exposed upland landscapes proved every bit as valuable as the miles in my legs. Now competing in the V55 category, I’m looking ahead to the next challenge.

Clair Heaviside

Tested: Mixed terrain, gravel, singletrack, heather and muddy bogs in late winter to early spring.

I went into these a little bit sceptical. KEEN isn’t a brand I’d normally associate with running, more waterproof boots and hiking sandals than anything you’d actually train in. But I am happy to say that they have put the miles in to make these trail shoes work.

First thing out of the box: I really liked the look of them, seriously considering just using them as my everyday trainer. They also threw in a running cap, which was a really nice touch.

KEEN talks about spending twenty years listening to trails and runners before bringing this shoe to market, and you can feel that in the details. The cushioning has real energy to it. Even the tongue, 8.8mm of padded, sock-like construction, feels like a genuine comfort decision rather than an afterthought. It fits snugly, like a little cloud, keeps gravel and debris out, and adds to that overall sensation that someone actually thought about what it feels like to wear these for a few hours. On their website they use the phrase HKTs (happiest known times) and in the context of this shoe, it actually makes sense, they want you to enjoy wearing them, for sure.

The midsole is the thing. Bouncy in a way that feels good underfoot rather than just sounds good in a product description. The toe box is roomy, your feet have space to do what feet are supposed to do. The toe cap does genuine protective work on roots and rocky patches. On a mixed terrain run, they were comfortable the whole way. I wasn’t thinking about my feet, which is usually a good sign.

They’re not a light shoe. There’s a bit of weight to them, partly the cushioning, partly that padded tongue, and you would notice it if you were expecting something nimble. These aren’t built for dancing over trails, they’re built for going the distance on them.

Where it gets harder is wet, slippery ground. I was sliding around more than I wanted on muddy sections, more than I’d expect from something solid as a trail shoe. On dry trails and gravel it’s fine. Push into anything genuinely technical or wet and you feel the limit. Having said that, I’m a cautious runner on slippy downhills, so I probably demand more in this area than most.

On durability, KEEN makes a point of building for the long run rather than the quick sell, and the construction feels solid. Whether the midsole bounce holds up over serious mileage is the real question. Foam degrades, and the livelier it feels at the start, the more you notice when it doesn’t anymore – something to come back to.

Overall, I would wear them for my steady long run on dry trails,  and enjoy the ride.

A note on sustainability

KEEN’s “Consciously Created” positioning isn’t just marketing language, which is worth saying. They went PFAS-free across their entire supply chain back in 2018, removing the synthetic chemicals found in a lot of outdoor kit, and then published a guide to help other brands do the same, which is an unusually generous move. They run on 100% renewable electricity across production, offices and stores, have science-aligned emissions targets through to 2033, and run a take-back programme for resale of used footwear. There’s also a tiered certification system for upcycling industrial waste into shoes, which is a more concrete commitment than most brands manage. The one honest caveat is that their factory auditing is done internally rather than through independent third-party accreditation, so there’s still a degree of taking their word for it. But the overall picture is a brand that’s genuinely ahead of where most are, and trying to bring others along with them, which has to count for something.

PROS

• Midsole cushioning is genuinely enjoyable, bouncy without being ridiculous
• Roomy toe box, feet feel natural and unconstricted
• Toe cap does real work on roots and rocky ground
• Padded sock-like tongue keeps debris out and the instep well protected
• Comfortable across mixed surfaces for longer efforts
• Versatile enough to go road-to-trail without feeling like a compromise

CONS

• Grip lets it down a bit on wet, muddy or technical terrain (possibly just personal to me though)
• Not a light shoe, built for comfort and distance, not speed
• Probably not for you if you have narrow feet.

Clair’s scores: Design: 8 · Features: 7 · Performance: 6 · Value: 7

About Clair: Clair lives in the Peak District, runs a marketing agency and is host of the Create Brave podcast. She has been an avid trail runner since 2018, completed her first 100 miler this year, and co-founded High Peak Runners with RunUltra’s very own Robin Leathley.

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