Chiangmai Thailand by UTMB
Chiangmai Thailand by UTMB – Elephant 100
Mae Taeng (Wat Nhong Bua Noi) → Chiang Mai (PAO Park)
Race guide
Updated 19 July 2026
The Elephant 100 is the headline distance of Chiangmai Thailand by UTMB, running 103 km from Wat Nhong Bua Noi in Mae Taeng to PAO Park in Chiang Mai. Despite the modest net elevation change — starting at 364 m and finishing at 320 m — the route packs in 4956 m of climbing and tops out at 1600 m, which tells you this is a constantly undulating course rather than one big mountain push. With a single finish cut-off set at 12:00 the following day, this is a race that rewards runners who can manage a long, grinding day (and night) in the hills above Chiang Mai without blowing up early.
Course & Terrain
The Elephant 100 links Mae Taeng to Chiang Mai over 103 km, and the numbers reveal a course built on repeated climbing rather than one defining ascent. Averaging close to 48 m of gain per kilometre, with a high point of only 1600 m, this is classic mid-elevation, forested Northern Thai trail terrain — a relentless sequence of ups and downs rather than a single alpine-style summit. Starting at 364 m and finishing at 320 m, the net elevation change is almost nothing, which means every metre of that 4956 m D+ has to be earned back in descent somewhere along the route. With only the start and finish given as fixed points — Wat Nhong Bua Noi at 0 km and PAO Park at 103 km — the course should be treated as one continuous effort rather than a race broken into clean checkpoint-to-checkpoint chunks. Runners should expect the terrain to demand constant attention: short, punchy climbs followed by technical descents, stacking up over the full distance rather than easing off in flatter middle sections.
Where the Race Is Actually Decided
With 4956 m of climbing packed into just 103 km, the Elephant 100 is won or lost on cumulative fatigue management, not on any single named climb. The temptation on a course like this is to treat the earlier kilometres as 'easy' terrain because nothing looks decisive on paper — but banking energy early is exactly what funds a strong finish later. Runners who have raced this format successfully describe a patient, almost restrained opening half as the deposit that pays off when the climbing and heat compound in the second half. Because the high point sits at only 1600 m, altitude itself isn't the enemy here — repeated vertical gain and loss over a long single push to the 103 km finish is. The closing kilometres into PAO Park should be treated as the payoff of a controlled first half, not a section to survive after already being spent.
Pacing & Fueling
Given the scale of the climbing relative to distance, the smart approach is to run the first portion of the Elephant 100 deliberately conservatively — even socially, if you're running in a group. The record-setting approach shared by experienced runners here is explicit: go easy, not hard, early on. That patience is what allows a strong closing effort rather than a survival shuffle to the finish. Treat the race as one long push toward the single finish cut-off at 12:00 the following day, and plan your effort around still having legs for the final kilometres into PAO Park, rather than emptying the tank on the earlier climbs. Fueling and pacing should be planned around the reality that there's no intermediate checkpoint data to break the race into neat splits — mentally divide the 103 km and 4956 m D+ into manageable blocks yourself, and treat the heat and cumulative climbing as the real opponents rather than any single feature of the course.
Conditions to Expect
Running in the hills around Chiang Mai and Mae Taeng means heat and humidity are constant factors throughout the Elephant 100, and successful runners here treat heat management as an active strategy rather than something to simply endure. The proven approach is to break the effort into planned resets through the hot stretches — mentally chunking the remaining distance ('two more and I'm home') rather than letting the heat dictate an unravelling pace. With the course topping out at a relatively low 1600 m, extreme cold or altitude exposure isn't the main concern; heat management, hydration and disciplined early pacing are what will determine whether you arrive at PAO Park inside the finish cut-off in good shape or barely surviving the final kilometres.
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Checkpoints & cut-offs
✓ Course data verified against the official source (2026-07-05) · official source
0 km · 364 m · —
8.6 km · 545 m · —
20.1 km · 1057 m · —
27.9 km · 721 m · Fri 16:00
37.5 km · 839 m · Fri 19:30
43.2 km · 1240 m · —
57 km · 526 m · Sat 02:00
66.6 km · 1015 m · —
76.5 km · 1400 m · —
89.8 km · 692 m · Sat 10:00
100.7 km · 320 m · Sat 12:00
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