Cape Town Marathon Race Test: Adidas Pro Evo 3 vs Garmin Forerunner 170 Music and Forerunner 70

Introduction

The Cape Town Marathon made for an ideal real-world test bed: an early morning start by the ocean, a course with sneaky rolling inclines, and a final 7K out-and-back that asks everything of your legs and your gear. On test: the Adidas Pro Evo 3 carbon racer, pushed at full race effort over a just-under-three-hour marathon, and two new Garmin watches, the Forerunner 170 Music and the cheaper Forerunner 70, worn side by side to compare GPS accuracy, pacing, heart rate, and battery life.

What Went Under Test

The goal for the run was a personal best attempt, with the Pro Evo 3 given everything from the gun. A big open question going in: is a shoe designed around elite-level performance actually a help or a hindrance for a runner around the three-hour mark? Both Garmin watches were fully charged the night before, worn overnight, and set to identical race settings: full screen brightness, always-on display, and gesture wake. The course itself was well organized, with frequent aid stations, cool early conditions that gave way to later heat, and plenty of gradual climbing that quietly drains energy reserves.

Adidas Pro Evo 3: The Race Day Experience

For the first 16 to 17 miles, when the legs were fresh, the Pro Evo 3 ran like a dream. The ride is super soft but controlled, with a bouncy, springy, high-energy feel and a consistency to the rebound that stands out. The energy rim does real work as a stabilizing element, giving a planted sensation through the roll, and the shoe is so light on the foot it is barely there. It clearly encourages you to go fast.

It works best with a mid-to-forefoot strike: punching the forefoot into the ground and engaging the rocker and rim is when the shoe truly comes alive. When fatigue set in late in the race and the landing drifted further back into the shoe, it stopped returning energy as effectively. It will not save you in the final miles. Runners who want more structure when tired may prefer something stiffer, like an ASICS Metaspeed Edge or Puma Fast-R 3.

One real caveat: the unpadded heel collar, essentially a thin folded flap of upper with a razor’s-edge feel, cut into both heels over the marathon distance. It did not hurt enough to stop the run, but it left a blood blister and a cut heel, discovered only at the finish. The weight-saving trade-off may not suit runners outside the elite tier.

Compared with the Metaspeed Sky Tokyo and Saucony Endorphin Elite 3, the Pro Evo 3 feels smoother and quicker to return. It is one of the best carbon race shoes tested, but at the asking price it is hard to recommend for everyone. It suits light, fast runners going three hours or quicker who land mid-to-forefoot and can engage the shoe for long periods. If you are running a four-hour marathon, there are cheaper, more available shoes that will do the job just as well.

Garmin Forerunner 170 Music: Race Data and Battery

On total distance, the Forerunner 170 Music clocked 26.41 miles, essentially identical to the Forerunner 70. Real-time pacing between the two was as close as it gets, with no worrying data loss despite neither watch having multi-band GPS. Both tracked the race course well and beeped regularly at mile markers.

Battery performance was solid. After a night of sleep tracking, the 170 Music sat at 89% by the morning, and it finished the just-under-three-hour marathon at 73%, a 16% burn. That works out to roughly a 5% drop per hour of running, similar to a Forerunner 165. A fast overnight drain seen in an earlier half marathon test appears to have been a one-off. Heart rate read an average of 158 bpm with a max of 186, including a spike on a big incline where it may well have been correct.

Live tracking on both watches lets family follow your progress at home without downloading an official app, and both screens are easy to read on the move with plenty of room for four main stats. The key differentiator: if you want offline music and contactless payments, the 170 Music is the one to pick.

Garmin Forerunner 70: The Value Pick

The Forerunner 70 matched the 170 Music on nearly everything that matters on race day. It recorded 26.4 miles, matched real-time pacing throughout, and logged an average heart rate of 158 bpm with a max of 169, missing the incline spike that the 170 caught. Battery drain was marginally higher: 92% after the night, 74% at the finish, an 18% burn, or a little over 6% per hour, about as thirsty as an Apple Watch Ultra 3 over the marathon distance.

Both watches are light, compact, and comfortable, with no tugging or interference while running. Where you would need to step up to the Forerunner 570 is for features like the auto timing gates tool, which recognizes course mile or kilometer points and triggers auto laps rather than relying on GPS distances that can drift.

Overall Buying Advice

Choose the Forerunner 170 Music if offline music and contactless payments matter to you; otherwise the Forerunner 70 delivers near-identical race-day performance for less. The Adidas Pro Evo 3 is a genuine performer and one of the best carbon racers available, but it rewards fresh legs, light builds, and forefoot strikers, and the unpadded heel collar deserves caution. If the shoe’s technology eventually rolls down into more accessible, better-padded models, that will be the moment it makes sense for more runners.

Conclusion

Cape Town proved a memorable and well-run marathon destination, and the gear largely held up its end of the bargain. The Pro Evo 3 delivered a dream ride for the miles that mattered, and both Garmin watches provided accurate, reliable race data with battery life to spare. Match the tool to your level and your budget, and both the shoes and the watches here have a lot to offer.