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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

ASICS Metaspeed Rayvs
Saucony Endorphin Elite 3

Metaspeed Ray

approx £164

Estimated street price · £250 RRP

39.5mm — on the limit
Endorphin Elite 3

£300

Typical street price · RRP £270

39.5mm — 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 190g, a 61g 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.
  • Money matters: it is selling around £164 against £300, and the time difference between them is smaller than the price difference suggests.

Choose the Endorphin Elite 3 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 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–280sEndorphin Elite 3: 172s–253s
Cost per second saved
Metaspeed Ray: £0.33Endorphin Elite 3: £0.37

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
0102030405039.531.5
Endorphin Elite 3

What you pay

Street price
Metaspeed Ray~£164■
Endorphin Elite 3£300

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
Endorphin Elite 3£270

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

Cost per race
Metaspeed Ray£80
Endorphin Elite 3£79■

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

Cost per second saved
Metaspeed Ray£0.33■
Endorphin Elite 3£0.37

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

What it does

Estimated saving
Metaspeed Ray199s–280s■
Endorphin Elite 3172s–253s

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

Economy gain
Metaspeed Ray3.7–4.9%■
Endorphin Elite 33.3–4.5%
Built for
Metaspeed RayHalf · Marathon
Endorphin 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.
Endorphin Elite 3The softest ride at this level by some distance, and the third generation finally made it serious rather than just fun. A genuine top-tier option.

How it is built

Weight
Metaspeed Ray129 g■
Endorphin Elite 3190 g

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Metaspeed Ray39.5 mm
Endorphin Elite 339.5 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Metaspeed Ray34.5 mm
Endorphin Elite 331.5 mm
Drop
Metaspeed Ray5 mm
Endorphin Elite 38 mm
Foam
Metaspeed RayFF Leap
Endorphin Elite 3IncrediRUN (twin layer)
Plate
Metaspeed Raycarbon fibre
Endorphin Elite 3carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Metaspeed RayYes (39.5 mm)
Endorphin Elite 3Yes (39.5 mm)

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

Fit
Metaspeed Raynarrow
Endorphin Elite 3standard
Stability
Metaspeed Raydemanding
Endorphin Elite 3balanced

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

Race life
Metaspeed Ray~130 km
Endorphin Elite 3~240 km■

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

Data confidence
Metaspeed Rayverified
Endorphin 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

Cheapest in stock£299.90at Startfitness — RRP is £270

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.