Centurion North Downs Way 100

A change is as good as a rest they say, and I think that applies to ultra running too. In the last two years I have spent a lot of time on the Pennine Way, the Coast to Coast, and the Cleveland Way. I have also done a couple of big Alpine races. Most of my recent long events involved a lot of hiking. Many times I have been limited by my poor descending abilities on technical terrain, rather than by my aerobic capacity or endurance. So I decided to try my hand at some more runnable races in the south of England to see how I get on with those. Centurion Running led by James Elson has a reputation for excellence when it comes to race organizing, their objective as stated on their website is ‘to put on the best supported, most professionally and safely organised, runner orientated ultra distance trail races – anywhere’. Having done two of their races now (I ran their Hundred Hills 50k in March) I dare say that they are more than succeeding at this. From the website, the pre-race information and webinar briefing, registration, course marking, checkpoints (twelve of them) and finish line, everything runs like clockwork. Moreover, the checkpoint volunteers are the best, looking after your every need with a huge smile, and there are plenty of them, so you are almost provided with personal waiter service.

Anyway, enough gushing for now. I opted to enter the North Downs Way 100 (which actually is 103 miles) mainly because the date, August 9 2025, suited me, coming ten weeks after my previous long race, the Hardmoors 110. The race route covers most of the North Downs Way National Trail from Farnham (Surrey) to Ashford (Kent). The National Trail actually continues to Dover. It coincides in large part with the ancient Pilgrims’ Way, the historic pilgrimage route from Winchester to Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, home of the shrine of the martyred archbishop, St Thomas Becket.

At the time of entering I didn’t realise that the North Downs Way is considered the hardest out of Centurion’s four 100 milers (Thames Path, South Downs Way and Autumn 100 are the others) as borne out by the finishing times, which are slower across the board from elite to back-of-the pack. With 11,000 feet of elevation the course is by no means flat, though pretty sedate when like me you are used to the hills in the north of England. However, the hills are steep and punchy, often with energy sapping steps either up or down, rather than undulating. They are short, but there are a lot of them. The race is fully marked with both the permanent North Downs Way finger posts and Centurion race arrows and flags, making navigation super easy.

Runners are allowed to be crewed on this race, and many do so. There are designated crew points (away from the checkpoints) where crew can park up and await their runner. Runners are also allowed to have a pacer from the halfway point onwards. I opted to have neither, as I prefer to be self-reliant, but it was certainly nice to receive cheering and encouragement from crew teams as I ran past.

I had recced the entire route in June. The navigation is easy, but I like to know what lies ahead of me on a route so I will always recce a course if I can. I fast-packed it over three and a half days, in temperatures of around 28 degrees, which was somewhat challenging, especially as I was carrying a bit more kit for that outing. So I was grateful that the weather for the race weekend was predicted to be marginally cooler, around 24 to 25, still warm for running, but to me it felt manageable, especially as there would be the occasional light breeze. Some of the checkpoints would have ice, which I didn’t feel I needed, but some runners were using ice-bandanas. I am sure if I were running fast at the sharp end of the race I would have been glad of the ice. Many checkpoints also had buckets of water to dunk your cap in.

I travelled by train from my home in Yorkshire to Farnham on the Friday, the day before the race. I stayed in the Premier Inn, a mile from the station, and about half a mile from the Leisure Centre where registration would take place in the morning. I resisted taking a taxi, it was just about manageable to walk that mile along the Borelli Walk by the river Wey. I had quite a lot to carry (much of the weight being Precision Fuel and Hydration 90g gel pouches, and cans of ‘Starbucks Double Espresso’ to go into my drop bags) and it felt very hot indeed. I settled into my room, and then went back out for a short stroll, read my book for a bit sitting on a bench, and returned to the hotel via Lidl where I bought some extra supplies. I bumped into ultra running legend Dave Phillips (previous Summer Spine and Northern Traverse winner) at the hotel reception desk, of course he would not know me, but I recognised him and said hello, wishing him good luck for his FKT (fastest known time) attempt on the full North Downs Way National Trail. Dave is on a project running all the National Trails. He set the FKT for the Thames Path in May, also joining in with the Centurion race. For the NDW he would start with us but continue on to Dover before returning to Ashford, a total of 164 miles. He was super humble about it all and wished me luck for my own race. Unfortunately it was not to be Dave’s day and he stopped after about 70 miles.

I slept badly as is often the case before a race. I tried to stay calm and relaxed about it, it’s frustrating to lie awake when you know there will not be any sleep at all the next night, but it is what it is. I got up about 5, had my porridge pot with fresh blueberries for breakfast, two cups of tea, followed by a shower. I taped the balls of my feet as a precaution. Before this year I never suffered with blisters, but then had bad ones in two races in a row: on the sides of my heels during the Northern Traverse and under the balls of my feet at Hardmoors. Very painful indeed. Perhaps related to the hardness of the ground due to the prolonged dry weather? I have not been able to precisely pinpoint the cause, but it has made me very cautious. I left the hotel around 6 and walked down to the Leisure Centre for registration. It was a slick process as there were lots of volunteers, so no waiting or queueing. I picked up my bib number, got my tracker taped on to my vest by the man himself, James Elson. I handed in my two drop bags as well as my finish bag. The drop bags would go to Knockholt Pound (50 miles) and Detling (82 miles). It’s crucial to not get them muddled up and I made sure to witness them going into the correct vans. After I visited the toilet it was time for the race briefing. It was short as we had already had a comprehensive live webinar briefing during the week.

We were then walked down to the start of the race, just a hundred meters or so down from the sculpture indicating the start of the National Trail which stands on a very busy junction of the A31 Farnham By-Pass (which does not seem to bypass much, it goes straight through Farnham as far as I can see). Thankfully the trail immediately leaves the road and heads for the woods.

We only had to wait at the start for a minute or two and then we were off, at exactly 7 am. The first 25 miles (until the climb at Box Hill) are particularly runnable and I tried to strike a balance between not going out too fast, and making efficient use of the easy terrain and relatively cool temperatures of the morning. Not having tackled this type of more runnable 100 miler before I was unsure what time I could realistically aim for, unhampered by mountains, big hills, technical terrain, or man-eating bogs. The cut-off is a strictly enforced 30 hours (with intermediate cut-offs at the checkpoints) and I was hoping for somewhere around maybe 26 hours, and no more than 28. Other objectives were to look after my feet and my back, to hopefully avoid blisters as well as ‘the lean’. Both are issues I have suffered with in the past, though mercifully not at the same time. I had written a rough schedule and had that and the cut-offs on a laminated card, but I mainly ran by feel, keeping my perceived level of exertion and heart rate low. I knew this would involve quite a bit of jeffing, where I run to a count of 45 and walk to a count of 30, with variations depending on ascent and descent. My intention was to only have two proper sit-down stops, at the half-way checkpoint at Knockholt Pound and at 82 miles at Detling.

The early miles I averaged around 12 minute/mile pace which was comfortable. I briefly stopped at each checkpoint to fill up my bottles (Precision Fuel and Hydration electrolyte mix, supplied by the race) and I would also have some coke in my cup at the checkpoint, and sometimes a slice of watermelon. I fuelled with Precision Fuel and Hydration gels and chews. I carried my own 90 gram gel pouches, I don’t much like the individual gel sachets, as no matter how careful I am I end up with sticky fingers. I picked up the chews from the checkpoints. Very lucky for me that Centurion now has a partnership with PF&H (they also have Tailwind and Gu available). You are asked to carry some of your own supplies, there are not enough gels and chews to fully supply every runner for the entire race, but it works well as supplementation. And it is brilliant that the electrolyte solution is pre-mixed as this saves faffing with electrolyte tablets at each checkpoint.

St Martha’s Church, high up on a hill and only accessible on foot, and Denbies Wine Estate were the two main points of interest for me in these early miles. Having reccied the course I had done my ‘sightseeing’ earlier, where I read all the information boards, stopped to look at views and took photos, so I did not feel too sorry now that I was not paying that much attention to my surroundings. I could just glance up, think ‘nice view’, and keep motoring on.

After a lovely long easy descent on tarmac through Denbies, followed by a quick visit to the checkpoint at Westhumble Fields I was 25 miles in. The 279 Box Hill steps were a slog, there is no denying it, but I found it easier than on my recce. It was not quite as hot now which helped, I knew what was coming, and I had my poles to help me. Before I knew it I was at the top. It was very busy there with day trippers as well as runners’ crews.

Onwards now into the second quarter of this event, towards Reigate, Merstham, Caterham, Oxted, Botley Hill and Knockholt Pound, at 50 miles the (almost) halfway point. Quite a few more ups and downs now. I was feeling good. My pace slowed a bit, commensurate with the hills and the heat of the afternoon; I was covering around 4 miles per hour.

I reached 50 miles, just before the Knockholt Pound checkpoint, in exactly 12 hours, feeling very good. I knew I would slow down in the second half due to, well, it being the second half and fatigue setting in, but also due to my night time running being a bit slower. I really love running at night by the light of my head torch, but my night vision is quite poor so unless I am on a road I will be slower. I also needed to still factor in a minimum of two sit-down stops. In my schedule I had allocated 20 minutes for Knockholt Pound but this proved to be quite an underestimation. I used the rest timer on my Garmin (so the clock keeps ticking but you can see your stopping time on the screen) to keep me focussed. I believe I did not faff, but it still took me 37 minutes to do all I had to do. It was time well spent I am sure. I ate some pasta with cheese and tomato sauce supplied by the race, and drank two of my cans of Starbucks Doubleshot Espresso. It’s a milk-based iced coffee drink in a can (though obviously not ‘iced’ in my drop bag) which I find just the perfect pick-me-up on ultra runs (but a rather decadent consumerist fad in other circumstances – I prefer to make my own iced coffee for a fraction of the price at home!) I went to the toilet and brushed my teeth, changed my top, ensured I had both my mandatory head torches, and restocked my race vest with the nutrition from my drop bag. I forced myself to be sensible and inspect my feet and change my socks. My feet looked good, the tape on the balls of my feet was still in position, but there was one small potential hot spot on the inside of my heel. I could not even decide if it really was one, but made the decision to tape it. If in doubt, KT-tape it! I had pre-cut pieces of tape but I had not rounded the corners. Doh Petra, really, you dropped a stitch there. Anyway, I carried miniature scissors (in my SwissCard, if you haven’t got one I can so recommend this tiny multi-tool device!) so I probably only needed an extra two minutes to do that. Clean socks on. Then the shoe decision: for the second half I opted for my Hoka Mafate Speed 4s, having run the first half in La Sportiva Prodigio Pros. See ‘gear’ section at the end of this blog. Finally, before leaving I did my back mobility exercises lying on the floor. Doing the ‘child’s pose’ at the end some might have thought I was praying for a successful race!

Leaving Knockholt Pound towards Wrotham the route takes you up Chevening Lane, at the end of which is the Foreign Secretary’s grace and favour residence of the same name. This is where David Lammy was receiving the US Vice-President JD Vance, a fact which escaped me at the time. I thought the police car parked up there was ‘tackling rural crime’ and I gave the officers a friendly nod as I made my way past. James Elson describes his interactions with Kent Police re. a potential huge last minute diversion of the race (!) in his race review podcast (28 minutes in). I did not see any armed police hiding in the bushes though, perhaps they had gone by the time I was passing.

I had to put my head torch on at mile 55, just past Otford, and we were treated to a beautiful clear night with a full moon, initially orange and huge as it rose in the sky, later turning whitish yellow high in the sky, at times it just felt like a had a ceiling light overhead, so it never felt properly dark. I seem to have lots of full moons on my ultras, or maybe I just remember them more.

Despite the night being relatively light I did slow down more than I had anticipated. Whilst the trails are quite runnable during the day I found the combination of increasing fatigue and endless tree roots and bits of flint sticking up on many of the paths slowed me down a lot. But whilst I was falling behind schedule I did not trip or stumble once which is a win. The running through woodland, which had provided much needed shade during the day, did now turn to tedium as it was without a view of anything much. I was pleased to reach the 60 mile checkpoint at Wrotham. Another indoor checkpoint with a warm welcome as well as very nice toilets. They were much appreciated, probably due to the caffeine I had knocked back 10 miles earlier, on top of just the usual internal rumblings that ultra running tends to cause! Other than that it was a quick in and out and I was on my way again.

As the night wore on I started to feel nauseous. My stomach had perhaps seen plenty of gels and chews by now. I tried to mix it up with more real food from the checkpoints and started to already look forward to the chocolate milk in my Detling checkpoint dropbag at mile 82. At the 71 mile checkpoint at Ranscombe Farm I had to sit down, contrary to my earlier plans, as I felt dizzy. I had some coke and I vomited almost immediately. I tried half a cup of tea and some cherry tomatoes which looked appealing, but sadly only 5 minutes later I was looking at those again lying in the grass at my feet. Anyway, ‘puke and rally’ as they say in the ultra world. I took away half a banana and some salted potatoes and hoped for the best. This unplanned stop had cost me 19 minutes, but needs must.

I actually enjoyed the crossing over the river Medway at Rochester which followed immediately after that checkpoint, much as I had on my recce (and I also crossed it by train two weeks ago!). You are on a footpath and cycle way next to the M2 motorway and the Eurostar tracks. It’s almost a mile and I ran all of it without even any jeffing. Not much of a breeze though, which I had been hoping for.

The night felt very humid. I was probably low on fluids, salt and carbs by now after not taking enough in over the last few hours. That combination caused me a challenge on nasty steep hill (steps again) at mile 78. I started to feel hot and dizzy, sat down briefly, tried to carry on but the whole world started to spin around me and I only just managed to avoid fainting by quickly lying down beside the trail. I really didn’t feel good. Though this kind of thing has happened to me before it did feel more severe and for a brief time I worried that my race might be ending here, which was a most depressing thought. After a while some other runners came past and I asked them to just phone race HQ to tell them I was OK and just resting a while here (as my tracker would have shown me as stopped). I could have got my own phone out to do so but these guys were so helpful I thought I might as well make use of their kindness. (I made sure to thank them again profusely later as I overtook them all in the final miles!) I was there for maybe quarter of an hour, vomited some more, but eventually I managed to get back on my feet and I slowly got going again. I took my last salt capsule too. It was getting light now, and suddenly it was a little cooler, both those things made me feel better.

When I reached the Detling checkpoint at mile 82 I asked if there was a medic there who might be able to give me ondansetron (an anti-sickness drug) as I was struggling to keep things down. The medic was lovely but said they only give it intravenously and would need to do an ECG before and then monitor me for a bit afterwards, which basically means they only do it if you end your race there. That was definitely not the scenario we were in, I knew I would find a way to manage things. No way I said, I have to get to the finish! I just had to crack on steadily, more stepped hills coming up. Remembering I had managed to get over the Three Sisters on the Hardmoors 110 feeling equally rough, and by comparison the Detling Hills were a mere trifle. I changed my top again for a clean one, and swapped my buff and head torch for my cap. I took my chocolate milk with me as I reckoned I could sip it intermittently. I had spent 22 minutes at the checkpoint, the 10 which I had planned had again been a significant underestimation.

Before I went out of the door I decided to quickly look at the tracker. I knew there were only two of us in my FV60 age category and I was very much hoping to win, but I had not looked at the tracker at all, as I can only run my own race anyway. But with just 21 miles to go I could not resist having a look. If my competitor, Centurion regular Darla Crispin, were just behind or in front of me that might be useful to know. Instead it turned out she had dropped out at Reigate in the first half. Very sad for her, but now I knew I only needed to make it to the finish to get my hands on that trophy, which gave me an extra incentive.

Onwards then towards those Detling Hills, which were steep and tedious, I took it slowly, and managed to drink my chocolate milk. At the Lenham checkpoint at mile 90 I asked for milk in my cup which was a good idea (I am not normally a milk drinker but it was exactly what my stomach needed) and managed some more banana. I repeated that combo at the final checkpoint, Dunn Street, just 4.5 miles from the finish. It was only here that I started to dare to believe that I would make it to the finish. I was feeling a lot better by now. The running is more or less flat from Lenham and I managed to cover the miles quite well, mainly jeffing. After Dunn Street you cross a couple of big fields to reach the Eastwell Estate which these days is owned by Champneys, the health spa company. The ruined St Mary’s Church, still on the Pilgrims’ Way, is interesting and on my recce I did have a good look. I found it quite endearing to see it is being looked after by the ‘Friends of Friendless Churches’. From the church it is road all the way to the finish on the track in Ashford.

I managed to run most of the way to the finish, with just a few walk breaks in between, overtaking quite a number of runners on the way. Arriving at the Julie Rose stadium runners have to run three quarters of a lap of the track, there was lots of cheering from spectators and Centurion staff and volunteers. I felt super emotional, more so than at most of my other big races, and I actually cried as I went round. I had been to this track at the end of my recce, to return there now for the real thing, with the bonus of an age category trophy, meant a lot. I tried to sprint though it undoubtedly looked like an ultra-shuffle, but I believe I reached a lightning fast 10 minute/mile pace before crossing under the finish arch. My time of 28:44:44 was perhaps not quite what I had hoped for when composing my schedule, but in the later stages I had amended my aim to be ahead of the ‘golden hour’ (29 to 30 hours) and I managed that. As I sat down cherishing my buckle and trophy I was totally happy with life.

The finish line volunteers were absolutely amazing, personal service again. I was brought water and then food (and yes, I could eat again, it tasted good and stayed down), my drop bags were gathered for me and put at my feet, an absolutely sterling service. Everyone is treated like a winner. I had a shower at the track before travelling back north on the train later in the day. I managed to get a cheap first-class upgrade on the London to Leeds leg, which really rounded off the weekend pretty well.

The results can be viewed here. The women’s course record was broken by Alice Robinson in 18:13:58 and the men’s race was won by Ryan Whelan in 16:25:06. 208 runners started and 140 finished, I was the 108^th finisher.

It was not until the Monday evening, when the Centurion podcast with the race review came out, that I discovered that in fact my time, that I had been disappointed with, has lowered the FV60 course record by 13 minutes 🏆. Moreover, it turns out I am only the third FV60 to complete the NDW100 in 15 editions of the event. Which I find surprising, as there are quite a few women over 60 around doing the long distances, and some are significantly faster than I am. They obviously have avoided the NDW100 thus far. Anyway, I am proud to play a little part in flying the flag for older women. Perhaps I should come back to this event in 2026, as I feel there is definitely potential to take a chunk of time off this record…..

Gear:

Shoes: 1st half – La Sportiva Prodigio Pro. These were new to me, I had done around 20 miles in them prior to the race. I would definitely concur with most reviewers and say that they are a fantastic shoe, and made for this type of terrain. Whilst not significantly lighter on the scales than my Hokas, they feel lighter and they feel very fast, even on the feet of a not-very-fast runner like myself. I had to go a full size up (had originally ordered half a size up and sent those back again). I removed the padding from the tongues (see this YT video for more on why and how to potentially do that) to create more space and avoid anterior tibial tendinitis, as I could feel the risk of that occurring already. I think these are the perfect shoes for a 50k, 50 mile or a 100k race. For me they were getting a bit too tight at 50 miles. Perhaps a pair yet another half size up would have been OK for the second half.

Shoes: 2nd half – Hoka Mafate Speed 4. I have been wearing Mafates for all my trail running and racing for several years now. I have them in 3 different sizes for varying scenarios. I had put the middle size in my drop bag. As soon as I put them on at Knockholt they felt so comfortable that I had no doubt anymore and sent the Prodigio Pros on their way to the finish in the bag.

Socks: Hilly Twin Skin socks. I had been wearing Drymax socks, which are normally fabulous, on the last two long events where I got blisters, so decided to return to Twin Skin socks for this race and had no blisters. Whether the socks made the difference I can’t know of course, as I also taped my feet.

Foot cream: Palmers Cocoa Butter.

Racevest: Salomon Advance Skin 12, with Salomon pole quiver attached.

Running poles: Leki

Watch: Garmin Enduro 2. Not really required at all for navigation, though I did double check that I was on track occasionally in the night, whenever I was on my own and had not seen a flag for even a short time. I wore my spare watch, Suunto Race S, on the other wrist, showing current time of day.