The autumn marathon season has brought a crowded run of racing-shoe launches, and the week of 2 November added three more to the pile. Reebok has returned to the performance racing category with the SpeedShifter, a carbon-plated shoe built around its ATPU-based HYPERFLOAT foam and an aggressive rocker geometry. It is priced at $220 in the United States, undercutting most of the established carbon racers, though UK and European availability has not yet been confirmed.
Puma’s approach is rather different. The Fast-RB Nitro Elite 2, released on 28 October in limited quantities in select European markets, carries a 57mm heel stack, well above the 40mm competition limit, so it cannot be used in sanctioned races. It combines Nitrofoam Elite with two fused carbon plates, weighs 250g in a UK size 8, has an 8mm drop and costs £300 or €350. It is, in effect, a training and recreational super shoe rather than a racing one, and its price invites scrutiny of what the extra stack delivers.
Saucony has refreshed its Endorphin Speed line with the sixth version, which uses PWRRUN PBX foam and a revised nylon plate. The Speed range has long occupied the territory between daily trainer and full racer, and the new model will be judged against the Endorphin Speed 5 and adidas’s Adizero Evo SL. Reviewers, including the team at Runnea, have said they intend to complete extended testing before reaching conclusions.
On the trails, Salomon has shown its GRVL Concept, a PEBA-foam, carbon-plated shoe intended for hard-packed trails and mixed terrain, priced at £220. Whether runners will want a dedicated gravel shoe rather than a hybrid trainer is an open question, but it indicates how far super-shoe technology is now spreading beyond the road.
All of this arrives as Nike’s Alphafly 4 reaches retail following its 29 October release, and as retailers prepare Black Friday discounts on previous-generation models such as the Alphafly 3, Saucony Endorphin Speed 5 and New Balance SuperComp Elite v5. For buyers, the practical effect is a wider spread of prices and a stronger case for waiting on last year’s technology.