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🔊 Listen ⏹ Stop

Featuring trail runners Simoné and Nelis Malan

There's a moment every trail runner chases.

The chatter fades. Your watch becomes background noise. All that's left is your breathing, the crunch of gravel under your feet, and a ribbon of trail meandering over the horizon. It doesn't matter if the climb is brutal or the weather's turned. In that moment, you're exactly where you're meant to be.

For Simoné and Nelis Malan, that moment has quietly reshaped their lives. Running has become how they experience the world together.

They've swapped lunchtime treadmill sessions for mountain passes, and weekend Park Runs for events that push them past 100km.

They've raced everything from local trail favourites to the UTMB Finals in the French Alps, collectively covering thousands of trail kilometres.

And through it all, one shoe has kept showing up on their feet: the Merrell ProMorph.

But before talking about shoes, it's worth understanding the journey that brought them here. Because neither Simoné nor Nelis ever set out to become trail runners.

The Couple Behind the Trails

A biokineticist by profession, Simoné is also an accomplished ultra-runner who has covered distances of up to 160 km. She also recently placed second in the women's field at the Cape Town Marathon.

Nelis works in import and export and has built his own deep knowledge of sports nutrition and trail running.

Together they're raising a son, running a household, and somehow still making it to the start line of some of South Africa's toughest races.

That combination, elite performance plus biokinetic insight, is exactly why we asked them to put the ProMorph through its paces.

A Passion That Found Them

Like most who fall in love with trail running, Simoné and Nelis didn’t begin with ambitious goals of conquering alpine ultras.

Before 2021, running was simply a form of exercise that filled the gaps between busy workdays. A quick jog around the block was as far as it went.

Then Simoné moved into private practice and met members of her local trail-running community through her new colleagues.

"Their passion for the sport was contagious," Simoné recalls.

"Before long, we found ourselves taking part in trail races. What started as a casual activity soon developed into a genuine love for trail running and competition."

Nelis followed close behind. "Simoné started taking it more seriously, and it inspired me to push beyond the normal 5 km," he says.

What began as a way to clear their minds became a shared way of life filled with early mornings and new views.

Why the Trail Keeps Calling

Road runners often chase numbers: a personal best, a finish time, a qualifying standard.

Trail runners pursue something harder to measure on a smartwatch.

Freedom. Adventure. Perspective.

For Simoné, it’s about reconnection. Technical routes force you to slow down and actually notice the fynbos underfoot, the wind coming off the escarpment, the way the light changes on a climb.

"Longer races allow you to fully immerse yourself in the environment rather than simply focusing on speed," she says.

You start measuring progress by landmarks reached, ascents tackled, and moments that just couldn't happen anywhere else.

Nelis’ answer is simple. "Being outdoors, the fresh air, and being away from all the city noise."

In a world where every spare moment competes for our attention, the trail offers something increasingly rare.

Space to think.

Space to breathe.

Space to remember that adventure doesn't always require a passport.

Sometimes it begins just beyond the edge of town.

From sandstone cliffs to fynbos-covered slopes, forest tracks and wide-open grasslands, South Africa offers endless reasons to leave the road behind.

Every Finish Line is Shared

Ask them for their most memorable trail moment, and they don't point to a podium. They point to the Alps.

At the UTMB Finals, Simoné and Nelis competed in two separate races on the same iconic mountain circuit.

Both stood on different start lines. They tackled different challenges.

But with one shared goal: to be there for each other.

“It was incredibly special to be there together and to support him during his race. Sharing such a significant event in one of the world’s most iconic trail-running destinations is something I will always treasure”, Simoné remembers.

It's a fitting snapshot of how they approach the sport. Every year they push each other toward new distances and new challenges, not as rivals, but as each other's biggest support crew.

Balancing family life, work and training takes the same approach.

“We try to respect each other’s time and are both willing to compromise when necessary. Open communication, patience and understanding go a long way," Simoné says.

For them, trail running has never been about collecting medals.

It's about collecting moments: birdsong on a mountain ridge, a finish line reached after months of training, climbs and descents replayed together afterwards.

Those moments are why they keep coming back.

They're also why, after thousands of kilometres, they've become remarkably selective about the gear they trust.

That’s where the Merrell ProMorph comes in.

First Impressions That Stuck

Every runner reaches a point where the details start to matter.

How your body feels after hours on your feet.

Whether you can trust every step when fatigue begins to creep in.

Because of her background, Simoné understands this better than most.

And the ProMorph didn't need a break-in period to prove itself.

“I loved the ProMorph from the very first run,” Simoné says. “It immediately felt comfortable and responsive, and it quickly became the shoe I trained in most often.”

She raced in it for nearly every event on her 2025 calendar, and what stood out most wasn't just comfort.

It was speed. "It gives you a real advantage on faster, less technical trails, where you can maintain momentum and move efficiently," Simoné notes.

Rather than fighting the terrain, the shoe works with your natural stride. Its smooth rocker geometry encourages a rolling motion from heel to toe, while FloatPro™ Foam delivers lightweight cushioning that remains energetic deep into longer runs.

Nelis felt it too. “The shoe looks great, feels light, and propels you forward very easily,” he says, “making it comfortable to maintain your pace.”

Instead of the bulk you'd expect from a technical trail shoe, the ProMorph gets out of the way and lets the stride do the work.

The instinct for comfort shapes how Simoné chooses a shoe in the first place.

"I want to be able to take a shoe straight out of the box, go for a run and feel as though I've been wearing it for years."

After thousands of kilometres, you stop choosing shoes for what they promise.

You choose them for what they consistently deliver.

Built for the Way South Africans Really Run

Trail running in this country isn’t confined to pristine mountain paths. It’s wonderfully unpredictable.

That’s why versatility matters.

Nelis emphasises, "We normally run from work to the trail-running areas. There are tar roads, gravel roads and then technical terrain. We wanted something that flows smoothly between different surfaces because trail-specific shoes can sometimes feel heavy on tar."

For Simoné, that’s where the ProMorph really shines. "I use it both as an everyday training shoe and as a race-day shoe. I've completed distances from 21 kilometres to 100 kilometres in it."

Trust is Earned, Not Given

Trail running has a way of stripping away exaggeration.

The mountain doesn't care about advertising.

Your legs don't care about clever slogans.

Eventually, every product is judged on one simple question:

Did it do its job?

For Simoné, Merrell has answered that question since her very first trail race.

"I've been running in Merrell shoes since my first trail run, and I've never looked back."

Her loyalty isn't only about performance; it’s about shared values too.

"Merrell invests in trail-running communities throughout South Africa. They don't just support elite athletes; they believe in giving back to the people who make the sport what it is."

Every Trail Runner Starts Somewhere

Trail running can seem intimidating from the sidelines.

The elevation profiles.

The technical descents.

It's easy to believe you need to be an elite runner before you belong. Simoné disagrees; find your local trail-running community, bring a friend, and don't worry about pace or distance at first.

Nelis offers similar advice.

"Start small. Choose an easy trail. Walk when you need to and let your confidence grow with every run."

That's really the invitation at the heart of trail running. You don't need to be fast. You just need to start.

What's Next

After their fourth Whale of a Trail later this month, Simoné’s taking on the Karkloof 100 Miler for the first time, while Nelis has a packed season ahead: the Clarens Titanic Challenge, the Koranna Mountain Challenge, and the UTCT 100 km.

Their goals keep growing. So does the terrain they're willing to take on.

“Running is about far more than competition,” Simoné says. “It gives us the opportunity to travel together, experience new adventures, and discover some of the most beautiful places our country has to offer.”

Trail running isn't about escaping your life. It's about stepping further into it, one climb, one descent, one new trail at a time.

The mountains will always be there.

The question is whether you're ready to discover them.

Ready to find out what the Merrell ProMorph can do for your next run? Find your nearest Merrell stockist or shop the ProMorph online.