James Elson: From Racing 100-Milers to Creating Them

Centurion's James Elson on Grit, Growth, and Keeping Trail Running True to it's Roots

If you’ve run an ultra in the south of the UK, there’s a good chance James Elson had something to do with it. As founder of Centurion Running, he’s spent the last 15 years shaping the UK ultra scene, creating some of the most loved and well-organised races out there, like the South Downs Way 100 and North Downs Way 50.

But James isn’t just a race director. He’s a runner through and through. From desert ultras to global race scenes and back to classic UK trails, he’s been around the sport long enough to know what really matters - and there’s more to it than flashy finish lines or big brand hype. It’s community, connection, and staying true to your roots.

“There’s a synergy between Harrier and Centurion,” James told us. “We’re people who are very passionate about our businesses. We’re runners. We love our communities. We’ve built them organically, sustainably. Brands like Centurion and Harrier are true to their roots.”

- James

We caught up with him to chat about how it all started, building Centurion from scratch, and what he sees next for the future of trail running.

Let's go back to 2010, what inspired you to make that jump from racer to race director?

"I'd done a few desert multi-day races and got interested in longer single-stage events. I was specifically looking at hundred-mile races to qualify for Badwater, which was my bucket list race. The qualification standard back then for Badwater was two, hundred-mile race finishes. I looked in the UK, and there were literally four 100-mile races. None of them, well, one of them was marked, but it was a looped course.

And so I was travelling to the US to do races and I thought, this is crazy. There's definitely demand here for these. So in August of 2011, we put on the North Downs Way 50 and 100. Marked races, fully supported, removing the obstacles of navigation, carrying tons of kit and nutrition, and making it slightly more American/European than your classic British race of turn up with your backpack, a mug and a compass and off you go. So we were trying to bring hundred-mile trail racing into the UK. We were very much the first in that area. And that's what started it all really"

So there were some European races at that time, but you thought, “No, I'm going to America, that's where it's at.”?

"The problem with the European races is that they’re all in the mountains. Now, subsequently, that's become my passion as well. But at the time, I was not a mountain runner. I live in the southeast. So, for me to go and do UTMB, which I did actually do in 2010 and then again in 2012, but it wasn't the logical step for me. The logical step was to go longer on runnable trail, than just heading to the Pyrenees or the Alps.

Now there are lots of trail races in Europe that are less aggressively mountainous, but at the time, it was like European mountain races, timed events, and then the American runnable trail scene. That was kind of what captured my imagination"

Have your personal experiences as a runner influenced your approach to the race directorship?

"Yeah, we put on the races that we like running ourselves. Not just me, but the other core staff members, too. We’re all runners. We've all done tons of events, and we draw on all the things we like from other races to make our events as good as we can make them, but very much for the runner at the heart of it.

I mean, really basic stuff like you go on our website, you should be able to find when the race is, what the course is, where the aid stations are, what you need to carry - all really quickly and fairly intuitively. Things like when and where to go, how to get there, all that stuff. So it starts on the website. And then when the runners arrive at our events and even in the pre-race comms, we're always speaking to them.

If I see an evolution in the sport, we integrate it in and continue trying to improve that way. Of late, that's much more on the fueling and education side of things, so we’ve added pre-race webinars. There are all sorts of evolutions. We're not revolutionising the races, we're just continuing to try to improve them really"

Having raced in the UK and internationally, what lessons or perspectives did you bring back that have impacted your events?

"I try to bring a hybrid of British, North American and European racing together. So I don't want to overly mollycoddle the runners. I want to give them all the information. I want to give them every opportunity to finish, but I don't want to remove the challenge.

We could make them easier. We could make things as flat, fast, and accessible as possible. But we still have cutoffs. The whole Western States thing with a 30-hour cutoff and the track finish, that is what we have at our South Downs Way 100 and our North Downs Way 100. That classic model, we brought over here.

Some of the stuff I've brought back hasn't worked. Running US races, the weather is classically very good, with a very small chance of rain - so all of the checkpoints are outside. You run Western States, every single checkpoint is a set of gazebos in baking hot weather. If you try and do that in the UK, funnily enough, you get runners at three in the morning all over the side of the gazebo freezing to death. So there's some stuff that you can look at and say, that's really great and keeps life easy, but actually it doesn't work that way because we're in a different climate, and the British environment just requires a different thing"

And what do international runners think of what you’ve created?

"I don't feel like UK races attract all that many international entrants. In Europe, Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the United States, their trail and ultra scenes are way more established than ours. They've been there longer on the whole. And we've got an incredible landscape, but we've not got big mountains that necessarily draw people in.

A lot of people from the States and the Far East come in specifically for the Thames Path because of the whole London to Oxford journey. It's a real riverside landscape. It's quintessentially British. So that's kind of interesting, but we don't honestly see enough to really get a perspective on what brings them in"

No doubt you've had some big challenges along the way. What have been your biggest hurdles, and how did you overcome them?

"In the early days, it was just sheer volume, like of stuff going out on course, of number of checkpoints, and of number of people you need to put on a point-to-point 100-mile race.

We've just got a much deeper infrastructure now around the events logistically.

Obviously, COVID was a massive challenge and really threatened every event organiser out there. Since then, the runner numbers haven't really returned. Our participation numbers are at 75 % of 2019. So we've got more races than ever in the UK, but with 25 % less people than in 2019. And the challenge these days is that you've got some very, very large scale races that do suck in an awful lot of runners and volunteers, and they're very big affairs. So those people aren't necessarily racing on either side of those big events.

That's impacted things too. So for smaller race organisers, it's a real, really difficult time. I think it's possibly the most challenging situation we've faced yet, other than COVID, this saturation of events and slightly reduced participation numbers"

How do you foster a sense of community and encourage a diverse group to attend your events?

"It sounds a bit cliche, but we try to do the right thing. We try to support organisations that are working for the improvement of the sport. So obviously, there are the official organisations like the TRA and the FRA. There are organisations that crop up as cultural shifts, you know, with Black Trail Runners, with Green Runners, with She Races, we partner with these organisations because we want to do the right thing by the sport. It’s about leading by example and working with them to improve diversity and inclusivity, and making it the most welcoming, open community we can"

What advice would you give someone who wants to get involved but feels intimidated by the thought of a big event or super long distances?

"Volunteer first. Get to one of our 50-mile events, do a checkpoint for a few hours. You see every demographic, shape, size, ability, and you will immediately recognise someone who's similar to you, who's out there giving it a go. And you'll realise how welcoming it is. You'll meet great people at the checkpoint who you'll form friendships with. And you'll see first to last and you'll realise that it's a sport for everybody"

In terms of your approach to training for races, what advice would you give someone?

"All I hear is people talking about consistency, which is absolutely correct. But one of the biggest ingredients to success is enjoying it. I see so many people who have entered a race and have flogged themselves in training, and are basically demotivated. They've got the balance wrong, and they're tired and they're burned out and they just keep going because mentally they're saying to themselves, “I've got to do more because I've entered this huge thing”. But that's the wrong approach. You've got to maintain the joy. You've got to maintain the love for it"

So, the South Downs Way is coming up in June. Do you have three tips for runners looking to take on that specific race?

"I do, it's usually hot and humid, needless to say, the middle of June in the UK and the South Downs are very exposed. It's a natural ridge of land that sort of mirrors the coastline and is very exposed to the wind, but also the sun. There's very little overhead cover, and the chalk can reflect the heat back as well. So, some sort of acclimatisation is important. Getting used to running in the heat and particularly fueling in the heat is crucial.

The second is to have a plan. There are 13 checkpoints and lots of crew locations as well, so you can get access to supplies plenty of the way through. But the biggest reason people miss cutoffs in ultras is the time spent in checkpoints. So, have a plan and make sure that plan does not include sitting down and having seven cups of tea at a checkpoint in the middle of the night. 

And the last thing is to train with your full kit on your back and all the water and everything else in your loaded race vest. You really should practice with all of that"

And what about those people thinking about becoming race directors or organisers of running events? What would you say to them?

"Start small, start local and start with a community. Build that. Start with one event that's manageable and sustainable and adds something to the area you're in.

Don't just carbon copy someone else's race or very slightly change the race route and put it on at a different time of year. That's not adding to what is a congested scene. Come up with something original, a route you're passionate about, and work on building a community around that before you try and get big. Keep your aspirations and costs low in the early part because they don't all survive. We've had races that haven't survived.

But just keep working on that community, and just have passion. You've got to do it because you're into it and you love it. Don't just keep going because you think you should. I'd like to see a few more original races popping up. I think there are far too many things that are very, very similar to one another"

So, where do you see the trail running and ultra scene heading in the next decade? Either for you as a company or the global scene?

"I worry about the global scene a little bit. I think the UTMB machine will just carry on. There is no derailing something that big. So I think there are 50, 60 events there. I'm quite sure that in the next three or four years, that will be a hundred plus. And that is a huge commercial thing.

And that is going to polarise people. Because trail runners, you know, the old sort of dirtbag, van life type trail runner, doesn't quite square with UTMB. But I have no doubt they'll be successful. They're amazing courses and massive productions, and real experiences.

But I do think on the flip side, and this is where I hope like South Downs Way fits in, you'll have these really cool independent races that maintain their own culture and community and provide that point of difference and can still thrive and be successful and sustainable.

And that's really what I want for Centurion"

And what are your thoughts on where the media side is heading?

"Just before our conversation, I just got off the phone with our live stream team for South Downs Way 100. I mean, at no point did I ever think we'd be live broadcasting 30 hours of trail running. I do think the media side is where the big development will be and that's why UTMB is just so big, because they really do a great job on the production and the content side of the sport"

So, what’s next for you and Centurion?

"There’s a synergy between Harrier and Centurion. We're people who are very passionate about our businesses. We're runners. We love our communities. We've built them organically, sustainably. Brands like Centurion and Harrier are true to their roots. I mean, it's really important in this day and age to maintain that for me. That's the key to success.

We cover a lot, with the store, the coaching and the events, but it's all just a journey"

From his early days chasing big adventures to building one of the UK’s most respected race series, James has always kept things rooted in passion, community, and deeper meaning - something we at Harrier really relate to.

In a time where trail running is growing fast, his take on keeping it grounded feels more relevant than ever. Whether you’re toeing the line at South Downs Way 100, volunteering at a checkpoint, or just dreaming up your next adventure, we hope you’ll find a bit of that Centurion spirit running through the heart of the UK trail scene.

Image credits: Steve Ashworth Media