Olmo 5
At first blush, you may be forgiven in thinking "there's just so much going on with this pack".
There are so many pockets, storage, nooks and crannies. I decided to give it a run for it's money during the Mont Blanc 80k race this weekend. The pack sits rather high however the reasoning becomes clear with you pack your water bottles in the perfectly positioned front pockets on the straps. I don't use bladders, I use soft flasks. Raidlight's 500ml are an example of ones that can be used, however any soft flask will fit as I used an INOV8 one in one pocket and the Raidlight in the other.
Practically, this little gem meant that at no point did I have to take it off. What? How can this be possible over 20 hours. Well, everything i needed was at the front of the pack or in accessible within reach compartments. My essential kit list was stored in the back,waterproofs, emergency blanket etc, the kind of stuff that you are likely not to use throughout the run unless a change in weather for example. So food, gels, water, head torch, arm warmers and all the little trinkets had been compartmentalised at the front. But not just at the front of this pack. There is a little secret about this pack and it's wonderful. If you reach behind you to the base of the pack, there is a zip, open it, and there is a huge storage compartment enough to fit, jacket, head torch, gloves, it's what sold the product to me.
Once you have got to grips where you have stored what you begin to realise the other features. Again, there are many little quirks with the Olmo 5. Are you a pole user? Well you have a choice where to pop your poles when not in use. At the front, yeap, that's right at the front, or if you don't think you'll be using them but want to have them with you, how about the traditional, across the back placement.
The only feature that I struggled with was the zip pocket on the side of the pack. again a spacious storage space, however once open I found that I couldn't reach the zipper again to close the darn thing. Probably need to put something in this pocket that you are not likely to want to be retrieving to often throughout your run. The Olmo5 is packed with other little quirky features, I'll let you discover these.
Importantly, after 20 hours, no chaffing. Not even a red mark or a burn, the kind that you usually only find you have when in the shower post run. A comfortable fit and a thumbs up for this tardis 5 litre pack
Thank you Raidlight.
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