Camelbak Delaney Race

The Camelbak Delaney Race comes with one 710ml Podium bottle and two 148ml gel flasks which sit either side of an essentials pocket at the front of the pack. The essentials pocket is intended to carry energy bars, additional gels, cash, keys etc but I found it to be the perfect size for carrying an iPhone.

The bottle sits in an angled holster at the back of the belt and this can be tightened using the bungee cinch system. I have to say that, despite tightening this I failed to note much, if any, difference in the tightness.

The belt offers two adjustment points, more on which later.

The bottle itself was of the usual Camelbak quality:

“Self-sealing Jet Valve™, easy to squeeze, BPA-Free, TruTaste™ Polypropylene with HydroGuard™”

Summary: So much promise but ultimately disapointing!

I loved the iPhone friendly essentials pocket and the idea of the gel flasks. However, I experienced a number of issues with the belt. I found it quite difficult to actually get gel out of the flasks, and certainly while on the move. However, despite this akwardness, I finished my run less sticky than normal and, in that respect, the gel flasks are to be praised.

The main point of failure for me as far as the Delaney Race is concerned is the bounce. I have never worn a pack that has quite so much bottle bounce as experienced here. Tightening the pack did remove the issue of bounce but this was only a temporary remedy as I just could not get the pack to remain tightened.

In principal, dual adjustment sounds great in that it affords a greater degree of fine tuning. The reality, however, was that I had not one but two areas that needed constant adjustment to keep the pack tight. I tried the ‘official’ method of tightening and then tidying off the excess with the velcro fastening but found the velcro to be akward and fiddly and, ultimately, not the kindest on my technical t-shirt. I then tried ‘unofficial’ looping of the excess to try and retain tension this way.

Neither approach worked!

As a larger runner, I was surprised at just how much excess there was in the strapping and would hate to think how a thinner person would accommodate this.

Searching on the web, I found mention of rolling up the excess and then securing with the velcro (demonstrated below). They also identified similar tightness and bounce issues with the pack.

This did prevent the pack from slackening off and therefore did reduce the bounce. However, this approach means that there is little or no room for minor tweaks to tightness while out on the run, or at least not without first removing the pack.

I also then found that the strapping dug in to my sides!

As it stands, my search for the ultimate waist pack continues!

• Pack Weight: 6.7 oz (190 g)
• Dimensions: 8 x 14 x 3.5 in (20 x 36 x 9 cm)
• Fabric Specs: 70D Diamond Clarus with DWR + 1000 mm PU coating & perforated foam
• £32.99

Pros

• Essentials pocket & gel flasks
• The excellent Camelbak bottle

Cons

• Adjustment issues vs slackening issues
• bottle bounce