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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

ASICS Metaspeed Rayvs
PUMA Fast-R Nitro Elite 3

Metaspeed Ray

approx £164

Estimated street price · £250 RRP

39.5mm — on the limit
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3

£260

Typical street price · £260 RRP

39mm — road legal

Choose the Metaspeed Ray if…

  • You want the bigger return: 3.7–4.9% economy gain against 3.5–4.7%, and that gap widens the longer you are out there.
  • You want the lighter shoe: 129g against 170g, a 41g difference you will feel late in a race.
  • You have a narrow foot and want to be locked in.
  • Money matters: it is selling around £164 against £260, and the time difference between them is smaller than the price difference suggests.

Choose the Fast-R Nitro Elite 3 if…

  • You want a conventional fit rather than a narrow or wide last.
  • You want more races out of one pair: about 240km of competitive life against 130km.
  • You are racing 10K — built for it, where the Metaspeed Ray 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 marathon from 3:45:00

Time back
Metaspeed Ray: 199s–280sFast-R Nitro Elite 3: 186s–266s
Cost per second saved
Metaspeed Ray: £0.33Fast-R Nitro Elite 3: £0.30

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
010203040503931
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3

What you pay

Street price
Metaspeed Ray~£164■
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3£260

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
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3£260

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

Cost per race
Metaspeed Ray£80
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3£69■

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

Cost per second saved
Metaspeed Ray£0.33
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3£0.30■

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

What it does

Estimated saving
Metaspeed Ray199s–280s■
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3186s–266s

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

Economy gain
Metaspeed Ray3.7–4.9%■
Fast-R Nitro Elite 33.5–4.7%
Built for
Metaspeed RayHalf · Marathon
Fast-R Nitro Elite 310K · Half · 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.
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3The most aggressive shoe on this list. The decoupled heel and exposed plate make it feel like it is actively throwing you forward.

How it is built

Weight
Metaspeed Ray129 g■
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3170 g

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Metaspeed Ray39.5 mm
Fast-R Nitro Elite 339 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Metaspeed Ray34.5 mm
Fast-R Nitro Elite 331 mm
Drop
Metaspeed Ray5 mm
Fast-R Nitro Elite 38 mm
Foam
Metaspeed RayFF Leap
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3NITROFOAM Elite
Plate
Metaspeed Raycarbon fibre
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Metaspeed RayYes (39.5 mm)
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3Yes (39 mm)

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

Fit
Metaspeed Raynarrow
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3standard
Stability
Metaspeed Raydemanding
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3demanding

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

Race life
Metaspeed Ray~130 km
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3~240 km■

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

Data confidence
Metaspeed Rayverified
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3verified

■ 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£182at Upandrunning — £78 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.