UltramarathonMike

I’m not much of a gear freak, I like good quality kit which performs, no gimmicks. Some of my kit is all a bit homespun and customised, and liking it is a fairly personal affair! So, when it comes to finding some gear that performs and does the trick I like to write about it and spread the joy.

After my experience in the recent Beacon Ultra in which I foolishly went ahead with utilising my uber lightweight windproof as a waterproof whilst it was blowin’ a hoolie I knew I needed to add a decent waterproof for running in. I asked around that weekend and a whole bunch of people highly rated the OMM Kamleika jackets. Not a traditional Kamleika (there are no mammals large enough around here) jacket but a lightweight taped seam, stretchy waterproof from OMM.

When I first got the jacket from Sand Baggers I was certainly impressed by the construction and the material which did indeed stretch in four ways. The features were pretty comprehensive too … weather proof zips, double zip on the smock, reflective patches, decent pocket, thumbloops, extra long back for when you are on the bike (or if you like a dry arse) and a full hood with a decent sized foam peak to keep the worst of the rain off your face.

Today I went out for a 12 mile slog (I was out probably around 2 hours) in the driving wind, rain, sleet and snow and did give the jacket a good test. The wind and the rain conspired to wet my lower half through to the skin in no time and it kept up all the way through the run, but my top half stayed dry, lovely and dry, the water was beading off the top all the way through and only a little water crept in at the wrists (I wasn’t wearing gloves which at 3C in those conditions was a big mistake!). I had a lightweight bladder on my back for water and even where that was sat it didn’t let any water through. The hood kept the rain out of my face for the most part, but 100% protection is almost impossible without a full face covering against horizontal rain blown in from the side. My only niggle comes from the fit of the jacket around the neck when the hood is fully up, the top of the zip tends tends to slip and sort of jam under my chin rather than sit over my chin as I would like. This though I think is more because I have silly long hair tied back pushing the hood back, it really wasn’t much of an issue.
I am a dedicated wearer of Medium sized clothes and this jacket is a large. Based on the fit of this one on me, comfortable with enough room to put warm clothing on underneath, I would suggest most people would prefer a size up from normal were possible.

I haven’t commented on the breathability of the garment because all of our sweat rates are different under different conditions and 100% breathable is such an arbitrary claim. Anything that I feel works to about 25% of a manufacturers claims/hype on breathability and I’m a happy man.

In short this jackets has performed well for me running and biking, it’s certainly beaten my expectations so far, and it’s price tag is a not unreasonable (for a UK price/product!) £100-116.

http://www.theomm.com/products/garments/kamleikaSmock.html