Taking a waterproof jacket to Namibia sounds rather like packing your trunks for a trip to the Arctic, but just such a jacket is on the “essential carry list” for the Namibia Ultra Marathon and so, with weight always a paramount consideration, the hunt was on for just the right bit of kit.
Montane have an incredible reputation for ultra-light gear and my chosen jacket turned out to be the frankly amazing Lite-Speed. Although Montane produce marginally lighter products – the Featherlite Marathon coming in at 120g and the Featherlite Smock a jaw-dropping 100g – the Light-Speed offers greater features (full zip, hide-away hood, beard guard collar), which was ideal for the winter training months before next May’s African odyssey. Coming in at a meagre 165g the Lite-Speed, which packs to the size of a small orange in its own compression bag, was also just the ticket in the weight department.
The jacket offers elasticated cuffs, large map pocket on the chest, locking zip and 3M Scotchlite 360° reflective dots on cuffs and shoulder – another useful addition for the winter training days/nights. It has proved both immensely comfortable and eminently breathable, in addition to having already survived some pretty heavy downpours despite only being advertised as “water repellent”. On the occasions that I switch a run for some cross-training bike work it has really come into its own and with such an incredibly minuscule sack footprint it goes pretty much everywhere with me…just in case.
Available in electric blue, burnt orange, red, grey/black and dark blue (“ink”), the Lite-Speed is an incredible feat of engineering that almost feels like it might float away of its own accord if not tethered down. I couldn’t recommend it highly enough.
… if you have the Montane Lite-Speed jacket, we’d love to hear what you think of it.
