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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

ASICS Metaspeed Rayvs
New Balance FuelCell SC Elite v5

Metaspeed Ray

approx £164

Estimated street price · £250 RRP

39.5mm — on the limit
FuelCell SC Elite v5

£135

Typical street price · £250 RRP

40mm — on the limit

Choose the Metaspeed Ray if…

  • You want the bigger return: 3.7–4.9% economy gain against 3.3–4.5%, and that gap widens the longer you are out there.
  • You want the lighter shoe: 129g against 182g, a 53g 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 narrow foot and want to be locked in.

Choose the FuelCell SC Elite v5 if…

  • 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 have a broad foot, or your toes spread as a long race goes on.
  • Money matters: it is selling around £135 against £164, and the time difference between them is smaller than the price difference suggests.
  • You want more races out of one pair: about 250km of competitive life against 130km.

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 marathon from 3:45:00

Time back
Metaspeed Ray: 199s–280sFuelCell SC Elite v5: 172s–253s
Cost per second saved
Metaspeed Ray: £0.33FuelCell SC Elite v5: £0.16

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.

0102030405039.534.5
Metaspeed Ray
010203040504036
FuelCell SC Elite v5

What you pay

Street price
Metaspeed Ray~£164
FuelCell SC Elite v5£135■

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
Metaspeed Ray£250
FuelCell SC Elite v5£250

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

Cost per race
Metaspeed Ray£80
FuelCell SC Elite v5£34■

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

Cost per second saved
Metaspeed Ray£0.33
FuelCell SC Elite v5£0.16■

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

What it does

Estimated saving
Metaspeed Ray199s–280s■
FuelCell SC Elite v5172s–253s

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

Economy gain
Metaspeed Ray3.7–4.9%■
FuelCell SC Elite v53.3–4.5%
Built for
Metaspeed RayHalf · Marathon
FuelCell SC Elite v5Half · Marathon
Best use case
Metaspeed RayASICS answering the Adios Pro Evo directly. At 129g it is the lightest shoe here, and it feels like almost nothing on the foot.
FuelCell SC Elite v5The best super shoe for wide feet, and one of the most stable at full stack. A 4mm drop and a broad platform make it unusually forgiving late in a marathon.

How it is built

Weight
Metaspeed Ray129 g■
FuelCell SC Elite v5182 g

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Metaspeed Ray39.5 mm
FuelCell SC Elite v540 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Metaspeed Ray34.5 mm
FuelCell SC Elite v536 mm
Drop
Metaspeed Ray5 mm
FuelCell SC Elite v54 mm
Foam
Metaspeed RayFF Leap
FuelCell SC Elite v5PEBA FuelCell
Plate
Metaspeed Raycarbon fibre
FuelCell SC Elite v5carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Metaspeed RayYes (39.5 mm)
FuelCell SC Elite v5Yes (40 mm)

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

Fit
Metaspeed Raynarrow
FuelCell SC Elite v5wide
Stability
Metaspeed Raydemanding
FuelCell SC Elite v5stable

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

Race life
Metaspeed Ray~130 km
FuelCell SC Elite v5~250 km■

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

Data confidence
Metaspeed Rayverified
FuelCell SC Elite v5verified

■ 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

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.

Where to buy

Your UK size

Best price today — some sizes£135at Runningbear — £115 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.