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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

New Balance FuelCell SC Elite v5vs
Nike Alphafly 3

FuelCell SC Elite v5

£135

Typical street price · £250 RRP

40mm — on the limit
Alphafly 3

£203

Typical street price · £285 RRP

40mm — on the limit

Choose the FuelCell SC Elite v5 if…

  • You want the lighter shoe: 182g against 218g, a 36g difference you will feel late in a race.
  • 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 £203, and the time difference between them is smaller than the price difference suggests.

Choose the Alphafly 3 if…

  • You race off a strong, repeatable stride and want the more aggressive ride rather than the safer one.
  • You want a conventional fit rather than a narrow or wide last.

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
FuelCell SC Elite v5: 172s–253sAlphafly 3: 179s–260s
Cost per second saved
FuelCell SC Elite v5: £0.16Alphafly 3: £0.23

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.

010203040504036
FuelCell SC Elite v5
010203040504032
Alphafly 3

What you pay

Street price
FuelCell SC Elite v5£135■
Alphafly 3£203

What the shoe is actually selling for across the shops we read, not its RRP.

RRP
FuelCell SC Elite v5£250
Alphafly 3£285

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

Cost per race
FuelCell SC Elite v5£34■
Alphafly 3£51

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

Cost per second saved
FuelCell SC Elite v5£0.16■
Alphafly 3£0.23

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

What it does

Estimated saving
FuelCell SC Elite v5172s–253s
Alphafly 3179s–260s■

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

Economy gain
FuelCell SC Elite v53.3–4.5%
Alphafly 33.4–4.6%■
Built for
FuelCell SC Elite v5Half · Marathon
Alphafly 3Half · Marathon
Best use case
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.
Alphafly 3Still the reference marathon shoe. The Air pods give a propulsive forefoot that nothing else quite replicates, and the wider platform makes it manageable late in a race when your form has gone.

How it is built

Weight
FuelCell SC Elite v5182 g■
Alphafly 3218 g

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
FuelCell SC Elite v540 mm
Alphafly 340 mm
Stack (forefoot)
FuelCell SC Elite v536 mm
Alphafly 332 mm
Drop
FuelCell SC Elite v54 mm
Alphafly 38 mm
Foam
FuelCell SC Elite v5PEBA FuelCell
Alphafly 3ZoomX with Air Zoom pods
Plate
FuelCell SC Elite v5carbon fibre
Alphafly 3carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
FuelCell SC Elite v5Yes (40 mm)
Alphafly 3Yes (40 mm)

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

Fit
FuelCell SC Elite v5wide
Alphafly 3standard
Stability
FuelCell SC Elite v5stable
Alphafly 3balanced

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

Race life
FuelCell SC Elite v5~250 km
Alphafly 3~250 km

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

Data confidence
FuelCell SC Elite v5verified
Alphafly 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

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.

Where to buy

Your UK size

Best price today — some sizes£199.99at Run North West — £85 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.