FuelCell SuperComp Elite v5 vs Endorphin Pro 5

The FuelCell SuperComp Elite v5 is New Balance at its most serious: a carbon marathon racing shoe built to chase a personal best on the road and nothing else. This is a full super-shoe, with a PEBA midsole and a carbon plate that New Balance says is 38 per cent stiffer than before, and at 213g it is genuinely light for a shoe carrying this much foam. That combination is the whole point. You get a tall, energetic stack that protects your legs deep into a marathon, and a plate rigid enough to snap you onto your toes when you hold race pace. It sits right at the top of the road racing market on price at 220 pounds, up against the Nike Vaporfly 4 and the rest of the carbon crowd. We rate it as a true race-day tool. It rewards a committed effort and feels flat if you jog. Buy it to race, not to train.

The Endorphin Pro 5 is Saucony's carbon marathon racer, and the fifth version is the most complete one yet. This is a road racing shoe built around a slotted carbon SpeedRoll plate sitting in a stack of PWRRUN PB and Super Critical foam, so you get that firm, rockered snap through toe-off that the Endorphin line has always chased. At £225 it lands squarely in the super-shoe bracket alongside the Nike Vaporfly 4 and adidas Adios Pro, and it earns the price if you are racing anything from 10k to a marathon. Compared with the Endorphin Pro 4 it feels a touch more planted and a little more forgiving on tired legs, without losing the rolling geometry that makes it want to move at pace. In our view this is a proper PB tool, not an everyday cruiser. Buy it to race, and it delivers.