Race

New Balance SuperComp Elite v6

New Balance's marathon racer — 198 g of Infinion foam over a carbon plate, and nothing at all to offer on a training day.

The SC Elite is the shoe New Balance builds for race day, and the v6 runs a carbon plate through a midsole of its Infinion foam. At 198 g it is about as light as a shoe this tall gets, and everything on it — the plate shape, the 8 mm drop, the thin translucent upper — is arranged around holding goal pace when you are tired.

It suits you if you have a road race you actually care about and enough plated mileage behind you to trust the ride. It repays you most over the half and the full.

It is not a trainer. The foam is fragile, the upper gives you nothing in the wet, and easy miles in it only spend a race shoe early. Keep it for the days with a number on your chest.