What's the difference between road shoes and mountain bike shoes?
Road shoes are not comfortable to walk in and definitely don't do good at all on trails if you have to walk up a hill or in mud. Mt bike shoes are the way to go they are walkable and work well on or off road. If you are use to clipping in then get a pair of mt bike shoes and clip-in, for cat 3 racing I would recommend them especially if there are some long climbs and rough sections. As for does every one use them, once they commit to racing 99% clip-in.