Centurion Hundred Hills 50k Prep with Kallum Pritchard

When you’re lining up for something like the Centurion Hundred Hills 50k, the last thing you want is last-minute kit panic. We caught up with Kallum about how he’s prepping for race day, from training miles to what’s definitely going in his pack.

Hundred Hills is early-season and deceptively hilly. How has that shaped your training over the winter?

Hundred Hills always sneaks up on you, it’s early in the season, but the climbs come thick and fast, so you can’t really bluff your way through it. It’s not my main “A race” for the year, but it’s such a great local event and it always attracts a strong field, so I still take it seriously.

I’m currently in the early stages of a London Marathon training block (building some speed before my mountain training block for Lakeland 100 and Nice 100), so there’s been plenty of hard interval work and longer steady efforts. But with HH50k coming up, I’ve been tweaking those sessions to make them more race-specific; swapping flat reps for reps with a hill thrown in, and pushing the pace on climbs during long runs.

I’ve also been doing some treadmill hill-rep sessions, climbing 300–400ft hard, over and over, to try and simulate the rhythm of race day. Basically, I’m trying to make sure my legs don’t get a nasty surprise when hill number ten arrives!

With two 25km loops and a runnable-but-rolling profile, what’s your race-day approach likely to be?

Last year my strategy was fairly simple; go hard early and try to build a lead on the first loop… which worked for a while, until the second loop reminded me that it’s still 50k.

This year I’d like to be a bit more controlled and consistent with pacing; keep things smooth, stay patient, and make sure I’ve still got something left when it starts to bite later on. That said, it’s Hundred Hills… so no promises that I won’t get carried away on the first few climbs (and hit a wall, again)!

What kit choices have you been dialling in during training, and what absolutely has to earn its place on race day?

For this race I’ll definitely be aiming for light and fast. The aid stations at Hundred Hills are frequent and brilliantly stocked, so there’s no need to carry the kitchen sink.

I’ll be using the Harrier 5L Curbar pack, which is perfect for keeping things minimal while still covering the mandatory kit. To meet the mandatory kit list and still be light on my feet, I’ll be carrying the new Harrier Exmoor Jacket, plus the Harrier Thorpe Ultra-Fine Merino Baselayer, and then the rest of the essentials.

Everything has to earn its place, if it doesn’t help me move quicker or stay comfortable, it doesn’t come along!

What does a “good day” at Hundred Hills look like for you?

A good day would be protecting my second-place finish for a third year running… joking aside, I’d love to take another step forward this year.

Conditions play a huge role at Hundred Hills, the course can feel completely different depending on whether it’s muddy or dry. If we get decent trails like last year, I’d be really happy to match or even improve on my time by a minute or two. I would normally eye-up the course record, but the speedy time that Joe Turner set last year may be a little ambitious!

But more than anything, it’s just a brilliant day out on some of the best local trails, with great competition, and the main goal is to come away healthy and ready for the rest of the season.

Any other tips for the day?

My biggest bit of advice is: check the course conditions as close to race day as possible!

Last year I looked a week early and it was an absolute mud bath, so I went for aggressive 8mm lug shoes… then the course dried out completely in the final few days and I spent 50k wishing I’d worn something faster.

This year I’ll be leaving the shoe decision until much later, and I’ll also be getting out on the course a few times in February to remind myself what’s coming. Hundred Hills always delivers a surprise or two!