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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

ASICS Magic Speed 5vs
New Balance FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v3

Magic Speed 5

£130

Typical street price · £150 RRP

38mm — road legal
FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v3

approx £118

Estimated street price · £180 RRP

33mm — road legal

Choose the Magic Speed 5 if…

  • You want more shoe underneath you late on: 38mm against 33mm, which is protection over a long race rather than speed over a short one.
  • You want something more forgiving. This is the steadier platform — useful if your form goes late, or if you are on your feet longer.
  • You want a conventional fit rather than a narrow or wide last.
  • You want more races out of one pair: about 500km of competitive life against 280km.
  • You are racing Half marathon or Marathon — built for it, where the FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v3 is not.

Choose the FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v3 if…

  • You want the bigger return: 2.6–3.6% economy gain against 2–3.1%, and that gap widens the longer you are out there.
  • You want the lighter shoe: 170g against 218g, a 48g difference you will feel late in a race.
  • You race off a strong, repeatable stride and want the more aggressive ride rather than the safer one.
  • You have a broad foot, or your toes spread as a long race goes on.
  • You are racing 5K — built for it, where the Magic Speed 5 is not.

What does this
mean for you?

Every figure below is recalculated from your race and your current time. The gap between two shoes is not fixed — it grows with how long you are on your feet.

Over 10k from 45:00

Time back
Magic Speed 5: 19s–37sFuelCell SuperComp Pacer v3: 29s–44s
Cost per second saved
Magic Speed 5: £0.14FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v3: £0.17

Ranges, not promises. Both figures are against a standard trainer, and the honest answer for most runners is that the difference between two shoes of this class is smaller than the difference a month of decent training makes.

Every number.

010203040503831
Magic Speed 5
010203040503329
FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v3

What you pay

Street price
Magic Speed 5£130
FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v3~£118■

A tilde marks an estimate: no shop we read is currently listing that shoe, so the figure is RRP less the discount comparable shoes are actually selling at.

RRP
Magic Speed 5£150
FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v3£180

List price. Almost nobody pays it for a race shoe.

Cost per race
Magic Speed 5£3.90■
FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v3£6.32

Street price divided by the races the foam stays fast for.

Cost per second saved
Magic Speed 5£0.14■
FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v3£0.17

The whole-life question: what each second of race time costs you.

What it does

Estimated saving
Magic Speed 519s–37s
FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v329s–44s■

Against a standard trainer, over the distance and time set above.

Economy gain
Magic Speed 52–3.1%
FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v32.6–3.6%■
Built for
Magic Speed 510K · Half · Marathon
FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v35K · 10K
Best use case
Magic Speed 5The best entry point to carbon. Real plate, real super foam, durable enough to train in, and about half the price of the flagships.
FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v3A rare thing — a short-distance carbon racer with room in the toe box. Excellent for 5K and 10K.

How it is built

Weight
Magic Speed 5218 g
FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v3170 g■

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Magic Speed 538 mm
FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v333 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Magic Speed 531 mm
FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v329 mm
Drop
Magic Speed 57 mm
FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v34 mm
Foam
Magic Speed 5FF Blast Turbo
FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v3PEBA FuelCell
Plate
Magic Speed 5carbon fibre
FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v3carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Magic Speed 5Yes (38 mm)
FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v3Yes (33 mm)

World Athletics caps road racing shoes at 40 mm of stack.

Fit
Magic Speed 5standard
FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v3wide
Stability
Magic Speed 5stable
FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v3balanced

Neither is better in the abstract — it depends on your stride.

Race life
Magic Speed 5~500 km■
FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v3~280 km

How long the foam stays fast, not how long the shoe survives.

Data confidence
Magic Speed 5estimated
FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v3estimated

■ marks the better figure where one is genuinely better. Fit, foam, drop and stability carry no mark — they depend on your foot and your stride, not on which shoe is superior.

In your size.

Where to buy

Your UK size

Best price today — some sizes£119at Startfitness — £31 under RRP

9 retailer checks failed on the last run, so their prices are missing rather than wrong.

Prices are captured when the site is built and stamped with the time of that check. We never rank a retailer by what it pays us; where a link earns a commission it is marked sponsored and the price you pay is unchanged.

Where to buy

No retailer we can read publishes a live price for this shoe, so we cannot check your size. The links below go to each retailer’s own search, where they show the current price and what they hold.

9 retailer checks failed on the last run, so their prices are missing rather than wrong.

Prices are captured when the site is built and stamped with the time of that check. We never rank a retailer by what it pays us; where a link earns a commission it is marked sponsored and the price you pay is unchanged.