Western States 2025 is the most competitive 100-miler in America, so when I saw a brand-new shoe on that start line—41 out of 369 runners wearing the Mount to Coast R1—I had to dig in. In this video I unbox the R1 and break down what’s actually going on with the design: LightCELL nitrogen-infused foam, the ZeroSag suspension insert, the TunedFit dual lacing system, and their GOFLOW geometry. Mount to Coast is a new Hong Kong brand built by ex-Nike and Brooks designers, and they’re clearly aiming straight at the ultra crowd first. Then I do what I always do: I run in it. A lot. I put the R1 through hundreds of kilometers on roads and trails to see if it’s just hype from one big race, or if it can genuinely compete with the giants—Nike, Hoka, Salomon—where it matters: long-run comfort, durability, and how beat-up your body feels after hours on feet. My takeaway is simple: the R1 is a serious ultra-distance play, and the reason it showed up at Western States isn’t random—it’s built around staying smooth and stable when things get long and messy. Stay wild. Make it flow.