Doi Chang Trail 2021 Review

Distance raced:
15 kilometers

Distances available:
15/35 kilometers

Overal impression:
Great!

Doi Chang Trail 2021 – Quick overview

This event is in Chiang Rai province, at Doi Chang in the Wawee district. Even though 2021 was only the first edition of the Doi Chang Trail, the event was a big overall success. The organization was very professional, the route was beautiful and had a lot of variation and the atmosphere was great. I am definitely keeping my eyes open for any upcoming editions!

The Organization

Everything was spot on! The Doi Chang Trail 2021 was one of the first bigger races to take place after a 2nd wave of Covid in Thailand, and they handled it extremely well. Doi Chang Coffee was the main sponsor of the event, and you could see they set aside some budget for it. Because even though the race event was relatively small and it was only the first edition, they thought about all the little details.

Race pack collection and start

It started with the bib collection which was spread out over a full day, and with different recommended timeslots to encourage social distancing. I can’t imagine the place was ever crowded, and the process of collecting the race pack was super efficient. There were different stations for each step: registration, checking mandatory gear, collecting the race pack and activating the chip. Doi Chang Coffee Estate was the starting point for the race and also the place to collect the race pack. As it is quite compound there was plenty of room for parking, shops and food stalls. They even organized some running clinics and other events but I did not attend any of these.

Like the race pack collection, the actual start of the races was also in different waves. There were four “channels” for the runners to approach the starting line, and they released them in groups of four. As you can guess, there was chip timing for the Doi Chang Trail 2021, otherwise it would not be very fair racing.

Staff and support

There was also plenty of staff everywhere, and on the few occasions where runners crossed the road there was police blocking the traffic. Photographers were also plentiful, almost to the point of there being too many of them. Having plenty of photographers is nice as you are more likely to be able to get some nice souvenirs, but it can get annoying at some point. They almost crossed this point during the Doi Chang Trail.

For the 15 kilometer distance of the Cross there was only one aid station along the way. This is less than what you usually find in Thailand, but in reality more than enough. There were some other support staff along the route so no problem there either.

The Route

The route of the Doi Chang Trail 2021 was fun with a lot of variation. The race started with at the Doi Chang Coffee Estate compound, but it soon turned onto some nice doubletracks going downhill for a while. Great to start the race nice and fast. The views were amazing right away with scenic panoramas of the mountains and valley.

After the double track the route started climbing slowly on small concrete roads through the village. Luckily there were plenty of villagers standing around and curiously looking what was happening. Many of them were in their traditional hill tribe outfit, which is always nice to see. It made for a fun atmosphere and it made the road section much less boring than it could be.

Then it was time for the most challenging part of the route: a kilometer long climb on a grassy slope up a mountain. With sections as steep as 35%, this steep stretch was good for over half of the elevation of the whole race. Both the 15 and 35 kilometer routes passed here, and it actually was quite crowded on this climb with the slower runners of the 35 kilometer wave also still making their way up the hill.

Right after reaching the highest point there was a short steep downhill before reaching the aid station. After the that it was smooth sailing and it really good fun. From this point it was mostly downhill along some nice single sections and double track towards the end. If you had some energy left from the steep climb, it was another opportunity to make good speed.

The race went well for me and I finished 5th overall, much better than I expected.

If you are interested in the actual route, you can download the .gpx file below. Note that I have only ran it during the event, so I have no idea what the route and trails are like under normal circumstances.

Get the .gpx

Atmosphere and Surroundings

The atmosphere and surroundings were great. The area around Doi Chang is very beautiful with beautiful, scenic views on multiple occasions. There were also some places where the route passed through local villages, which I always enjoy.

Another thing I really liked about the Doi Chang Trail 2021 is how they put local culture in focus. Not only were many of the staff wearing their traditional hill tribe outfit, even the post-race food was truly local. They used banana leaves to package the food as well, another nice local touch.

The start of the 2nd wave of the 35 kilometers race. Organized and efficient as you can see.

Recommendations:

As you can read above, it was pretty great overall. Some small minor improvements could be:

Communication in English on their Facebook page. This could definitely be important once borders open up again
Spread the departure times between the 15 and 35 kilometers a little bit more to avoid congestion on the narrow steep section
If you are want to start trail running in Northern Thailand, check out our Trail Database. We have mapped different trails all over the region.

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