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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

On Cloudboom Strikevs
PUMA Fast-R Nitro Elite 3

Cloudboom Strike

£175

Typical street price · £270 RRP

39mm — road legal
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3

£260

Typical street price · £260 RRP

39mm — road legal

Choose the Cloudboom Strike 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 narrow foot and want to be locked in.
  • Money matters: it is selling around £175 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 the bigger return: 3.5–4.7% economy gain against 3–4.2%, and that gap widens the longer you are out there.
  • You want the lighter shoe: 170g against 195g, a 25g 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 want a conventional fit rather than a narrow or wide last.
  • You are racing 10K — built for it, where the Cloudboom Strike is not.
  • You would rather buy on measured numbers: this shoe's specs are manufacturer-confirmed, the Cloudboom Strike's are estimated.

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
Cloudboom Strike: 152s–233sFast-R Nitro Elite 3: 186s–266s
Cost per second saved
Cloudboom Strike: £0.23Fast-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.

010203040503933
Cloudboom Strike
010203040503931
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3

What you pay

Street price
Cloudboom Strike£175■
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3£260

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

RRP
Cloudboom Strike£270
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3£260

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

Cost per race
Cloudboom Strike£44■
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3£69

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

Cost per second saved
Cloudboom Strike£0.23■
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3£0.30

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

What it does

Estimated saving
Cloudboom Strike152s–233s
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3186s–266s■

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

Economy gain
Cloudboom Strike3–4.2%
Fast-R Nitro Elite 33.5–4.7%■
Built for
Cloudboom StrikeHalf · Marathon
Fast-R Nitro Elite 310K · Half · Marathon
Best use case
Cloudboom StrikeA genuinely competitive marathon racer and the first On shoe that belongs in this conversation on merit.
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
Cloudboom Strike195 g
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3170 g■

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Cloudboom Strike39 mm
Fast-R Nitro Elite 339 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Cloudboom Strike33 mm
Fast-R Nitro Elite 331 mm
Drop
Cloudboom Strike6 mm
Fast-R Nitro Elite 38 mm
Foam
Cloudboom StrikeHelion HF
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3NITROFOAM Elite
Plate
Cloudboom Strikecarbon fibre
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Cloudboom StrikeYes (39 mm)
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3Yes (39 mm)

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

Fit
Cloudboom Strikenarrow
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3standard
Stability
Cloudboom Strikebalanced
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3demanding

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

Race life
Cloudboom Strike~250 km■
Fast-R Nitro Elite 3~240 km

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

Data confidence
Cloudboom Strikeestimated
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

Your UK size

Best price today — some sizes£175at Fitstuff — £95 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£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.