Asics Resurgence XC Review: AW 2024

Written by: XCS Team

Published on October 3, 2024

Time to read 3 min

According to Asics: "The RESURGENCE™ XC cross-country shoe is designed to help you achieve new personal bests more comfortably. Its upper construction helps provide advanced breathability and stability so your feet remain cool and supported during your training. These shoes also feature a foam midsole that help create softer and smoother landings in each step."

It's best not to read what the marketers say about their products too closely or literally, something we learned from Red Bull, but Asics aren't giving much away about the shoes in their promotional material.

Asics Resurgence XC 2024 Review - cross country spikes

Out of the box

Despite that uninspiring description, these spikes made a good impression on me straight from the box by virtue of Asics' decision to ship them with 9mm pins instead of the industry-standard madness of 6mm for European markets. There won't be many days in the UK where senior athletes are wearing 9mm, but it's a big step in the right direction which makes it look like someone's thought about what they're selling here.

The five spike sole is another positive as six spikes can clog with mud, when it gets really unpleasant. Asics have actually designed the shoe for cross-country running and that's very welcome here at XCS Towers.

Durability & mesh uppers

Worrying solely about weight in an xc spike is a fool's errand as durability is also a factor. As a minimum I want my race spikes to last a full league season, as well as the various county, regional and national championships in that period. Ideally they'll manage several seasons like the Adidas and Saucony spikes of 10 years ago did, but in a world where supershoes last for one marathon cycle, the minimum requirement for xc spikes is to last one year.

Whilst it's too early to predict the year-after-year durability of the Asics Resurgence XC, first impressions are that the shoe is well put together, although the mesh upper is likely to be the risk area. The mesh covers the entire shoe, but has inner reinforcement at key points. If you wear white socks you'll be able to see them through the upper of this shoe, at least into the start pen.

If we're comparing to other makes, there's less mesh than the Adidas XCS, but a lot more than New Balance or Hoka use. Wash them after every use to get rid of mud from the mesh and they'll thank you for it.

The mesh instep. Image www.xcstore.co.uk

Weight

Dry weight is a very respectable 167g making the Resurgence the lightest out of the four brands in our initial test, and after 15 minutes in cold water they'd gone up to 266g. The last thing I want is sponges on my feet, so water uptake is an important point and one I've never seen compared in other reviews.

We have 3 other pairs to test and review in the coming weeks, so we can compare the Asics' weight gain of 59% against what the best xc spikes from New Balance, Adidas and Hoka can achieve. Just from holding the spikes, I'm backing the Asics...

Feel

I like the padded achilles and slightly offset lace pattern, which avoided digging in to unprotected parts of my feet. I may be the only person who's had problems with pressure from tight laces, but it won't be a problem in the Asics. The tongue has a top loop to stop it falling off to the side, which should be a standard feature but occasionally gets missed by major brands.

Length is "to size" and the width was spot on for my feet - snug but not tight (I have slightly narrow feet but not to any extreme). Shoe fit is entirely personal anyway. I'd suggest buying your regular size and take it from there.

Sole

The sole is thick enough to keep sharp surprises out but there's not so much of it that it feels like a road shoe with a spike plate. The "FlyteFoam" sole (read about it here, if you must) is inoffensive and Asics haven't gone down the carbon-plate route for their xc spike, which as a traditionalist I see as the right choice. This is a proper xc race shoe and feels like one.

Overall

This impressive no-nonsense shoe does exactly what I want from a cross-country spike. It's light but not fragile, has the thickness where I want it and not where I don't, it doesn't weigh a tonne when wet and appears durable (with the caveat that only time will tell on that last point).

After wearing them for a few hilly laps of the park, with 12mm spikes after a few days of autumnal rain, I was no longer offended by Asics' bland website description as the shoe speaks for itself, if you let it.