For your fastest race yet: Meet the On speed family

Race day is sacred. Whatever the event or distance. Whether you're racing 5k or a marathon, when it's time to turn the turbos on, On's family of speed shoes is the way to go. With a distinctive – and definitely lucky – racing colorway, we've made it easy to spot our fastest footwear. 

Each of our racing shoes has its own characteristics and attributes. So if you need help deciding whether the Cloudflash, the Cloudboom Echo or the Cloudstratus are right for you, then here's everything you need to know to know about the fast three. 

Green means go

"The Cloudflash, the Cloudboom Echo and the Cloudstratus all come in the official On racing colorway," says Kevin Dellion, who is Sport Science Lead in the On Innovation Team. 

"We went through at least 10 different options before finally deciding on the white and green. The white is a tribute to the first-generation Cloudflash and the Cloudrush, which are the original On racing shoes. Both of them featured a white upper so it's almost an On tradition. 

"The green is a tribute to Switzerland's beautiful landscape, and how it's helped form us as a company. We've come a long way since we got started but we don't want to ever forget where we come from."

So when you see green, you know it's go time. But, as above, despite their similar appearance, the shoes do have significant differences. 

For a start, they're built to crush different distances. The Cloudboom Echo and the Cloudflash are our two ultra-light, ultra-fast racing shoes. But the Cloudboom Echo is built for conquering fast half and full marathons, while the Cloudflash is at it's best unleashed for distances up to 10K. 

The Cloudstratus, on the other hand, is the perfect training partner for both, offering maximum cushioning and dynamic responsiveness over medium to long distances. That said, it proudly wears our racing colorway for a reason. It's built for speed too. 

Spot the difference

In terms of appearance, the Cloudflash's midsole features green CloudTec® from heel to toe while the Cloudboom Echo's has a white forefoot section. The Cloud elements on the heel of the Echo are also larger to support you when you start to tire during the latter stages of a long run. The entire outsole of Cloudstratus, with its double layer of Clouds, is green.

The Cloudboom Echo also has a more minimalist styling with fewer overlay details and a lacing box that flows almost seamlessly into the white mesh.

Made to perform

When it comes to performance, both the Cloudboom Echo and the Cloudflash are light, responsive and made to go fast. The Cloudboom Echo delivers punchy performance for everything up to – and specializing in – the marathon. The Cloudflash, meanwhile, is better suited to snappier runs over shorter distances up to 10K.  

Although the Cloudstratus isn't designed with the same laser-like racing focus as the Cloudflash and Cloudboom Echo, it's still a shoe that performs when you need to run long and fast – in unshakeable comfort. And, for some runners who want a little more protection over longer runs, this versatile daily trainer also has enough cushion and kick to make it a happy marathon shoe.

You can learn all about the different technology used in each of the shoes in greater detail in the in-depth tech profiles below. 

So, no other colorways for the speed family shoes? 

The new Cloudstratus is available in several different colorways. And without giving too much away, we're not ruling out more colors in the future for our other speedy shoes either. But we just wanted to explain why these shoes look so similar. 

Fans of On will know that we like a good old limited-edition colorway as much as anybody out there. But they usually go fast — in this case, both in terms of selling and moving. So if you want to be kept up to speed, you might want to sign up for our newsletter.