The Inov-8 Ventureshell Jacket Review | The Last Waterproof You’ll Ever Need

There is a moment in every ultra runner’s life where they stand at the start line of something truly horrible, staring into the middle distance while their brain quietly processes just how bad the weather is about to get, and thinks: I really hope my waterproofs do what they say on the tin.

That moment, for a lot of people running The Spine Race, is every single year.

The Spine, for those who somehow haven’t fallen down the rabbit hole of watching people slowly disintegrate across 268 miles of the Pennine Way in the middle of January, is arguably the most brutal ultra in the UK. Possibly in Europe. Possibly on Earth, if you ignore the fact that somewhere out there someone is probably running across Antarctica in flip flops for charity. It is non-stop, it is relentless, and the weather treats every single participant with the kind of contempt usually reserved for people who park in disabled bays. And yet, this year a significant number of the runners who toed that start line in Edale were wearing the same jacket; The Inov-8 Ventureshell.

Nobody shows up to run 268 miles of exposed moorland in January wearing kit they picked because it looked good in the product photos, they wear it because they can trust it will work. And with the endless summer in the UK now over and the rain has FINALLY begun to fall again my mind immediately is on the waterproofs I need to force myself out the door come the endless wet winter that will undoubtably be coming…. This was why I had to review the jacket trusted by the hardiest of runners.

What it actually is

The Ventureshell is a 3-layer waterproof built for exactly the kind of conditions that make most people cancel their morning run and go back to bed with a podcast. It carries a 30K hydrostatic head waterproof rating, which in practical terms means it will laugh in the face of almost any downpour you are likely to encounter anywhere that isn’t the bottom of the ocean. Pair that with a 30K MVTR breathability rating and what you have is a jacket that keeps the weather out while actually allowing your sweat to escape, which is the holy grail that every outdoor jacket pretends to offer and most of them fail to deliver the moment you start actually working hard in them.

At 380 grams, it is not the lightest jacket on the market. If you are the kind of person who cuts the labels out of your kit and weighs your trail shoes on a kitchen scale before every race, this may not be your jacket. But if you want something that actually works when the conditions get properly grim, the Ventureshell has made its position very clear.

The hood is one of its better features. It has a wire-reinforced, laminated peak which means it stays where you put it rather than collapsing onto your face the moment the wind picks up. It clips down when not in use. Small detail, massive quality of life improvement when you are three hours into a wet hill and trying to find something, anything, to feel positive about.

There are also zip pit vents for when you need to dump heat fast, which you will, because working hard in a waterproof generates a level of warmth that most thermal layers would be envious of. It’s a feature I hadn’t really experienced until now but running in autumn in the UK where the weather turns from Baltic blizzard to Mediterranean sunshine at the drop of a tea leaf its a game changer.

The verdict

£235. That is the price and I’ll be honest with you that is a lot to be forking out for a waterproof jacket. But here is how I think about it. How many cheaper waterproofs have you bought over the years that leaked after six months, or turned you into a walking sauna, or just quietly let the rain through at the seams leaving you with awkward wet patches? Because I have bought and reviewed those jackets time and time again. This is not one of those jackets, I promise.

It is not glamorous. It does not have a dramatic colourway or a particularly exciting name. It is a jacket that goes to work in the worst conditions and does its job without any fuss. In the world of ultra running, that is about the highest compliment I can pay anything.