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New Balance's 320 is a defining slimline creation worn by Tom Fleming back when he was winning marathons back in the mid '70s with times like 2:19. That was serious back then, but by 1999, New Balance athlete Khalid Khannouchi broke a world record by finishing the Chicago Marathon in 2:05:42. Hence the name of this shoe—the 205. Some brands keep slimming their output for a certain type of consumer, and the majority are useless. But if you're a brand with a handful of killer distance silhouettes in the archives, you're in luck. New Balance are the masters of releases like this, with a devotion to the evolution of speed, hence current technological pieces like the 905, but it's rare that the heritage line puts out a makeup of a shoe that's still getting outings at performance level. The RC205WR is the shoe 2002 when he broke his previous record by just 4 seconds for a 2:05:38 finish time. It's worth spotlighting though, as this is a rare thing—serious early '00s looks that are suited to casual summer wear too for those of us who collapse gasping if we break from a strolling pace for the bus.

It's comforting to know that if we were inclined to move at any increased level of speed the Activa, Abzorb and minimal design's lightweight properties might prove beneficial, but that's not the purpose of these variations, part of a duo in association with KIMbia, a group of world class runners who promote the KIMbia foundation that supports education projects in Kenya. A popular pick with Kenyan athletes (who we've also got to thank for inspiring the legendary Air Rift too) endorsed by New Balance, weighty slow folk liable to stumble through a marathon would need something a little more substantial like this, but slightly reworked for day-to-day wear, they're a good release and one that should hopefully lead to further contemporary picks from the catalogues. These should be arriving in-store next month alongside an interesting collection of archive models with a few more years on the clock. When it comes to runners post-2000, less usually means more visual clout, and these are no exception.

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