By: Harold Piel
Event Name: Khon Kaen International Marathon
Date: January 10-11, 2026
Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand
Synopsis: We decided to visit a new location in Thailand that hosted a ‘race weekend’! With events from 5K to a full marathon over two days, looks like a good size event that would be fun, and we can also squeeze in TWO races on the same weekend. The main events on Sunday had runners from 56 countries, with Ethiopian/Kenya runners leading the fields (Mens Finish: 2h18m). Some serious running!
What was provided at Aid Sessions: Like all races in Thailand, water every 2-3km. There were sports drinks and fruit every 8-10km as outlined on the route maps.
How was the weather: Early morning starts are standard in SE Asia to ‘beat the heat’ and run during dry season. There was a ‘cool airmass’ covering the country that weekend, so a 12C start temperature, that warmed up to 16C before sunrise, and mid 20’s by mid morning.
My Race Experience: Starting at the beginning, we headed off to the Kohn Kaen race expo to pickup the race kits on Thursday, which was the first day to get our bibs and race shirts. This also allowed us to determine logistics like where the race venue was and how to get there, as the Golden Jubilee Convention Hall that housed the expo was somewhat central to where the start and finish of the races would be.
The Race kit pickup super organized as we entered the massive building: info booths with maps, and helpers that could also speak a bit of English to route us along greeted us by the door. To keep things simple, there was also a coloured tape line on the ground you could follow to get to the correct table, depending on the event. Volunteers superb, and did their best with English as I picked up my 5K and ‘Mini Marathon’ bibs and race shirts. They were delighted to take selfies with me too!
Race expo itself was a mainstream event: 50-60 running related vendors selling shoes, clothing, nutrition, and other products filled the hall, and it was a real buzz of activity checking things out.
Saturday Race day: On Saturday we woke relatively early (4:30am), and had a pineapple pastry and some coffee for pre-run fuel. With no shuttle to the start, called a GRAB, and zipped the 5-6km to the expo area with plenty of time to spare, which was a slight mistake, as the start line was 1.5km away! Ample time, so we followed the participants and the music to the starting area, and got ready for the 6:00am start. The bib and medal indicated 5.4K, though the timed run itself was modified last minute to be 4.8K. Thai announcers dressed in dinosaur costume got the crowd pumped, and there was even a bit of English occasionally. Definitely minimal foreigners at this smaller event. No cloths drop for our warm layer in the 12C morning, but many people (ourselves included) dropped off top layers at the starting area, and I returned later on to pickup the hoodie I left behind. We probably had a thousand participants in the competitive and non-competitive groups. There was also shorter kids 2.8K. Some odd University creations got everyone taking photos, us too!
As countdown came closer, everyone got into position: and with the sound of numerous horns, we were all off and running. It was a super pleasant venue on the University of Khon Kaen campus, and we ran on closed tree lined roads through the agricultural sections of the university campus, and past various Faculties as well. Water at the half way mark was nice, and comfortably pushed to the finish line knowing I would be running the next day.
Finish line was pumping, as this was a point-to-point course: and I was surprised to see 50-60 food vendors here that offered a wide range of drinks, snacks and breakfast options to participants from the race. A great deal, and the energy at the finish line was very positive for everyone.
Judy also participated, getting her legs back from the cough she was getting over this past few weeks. Managed to place 2nd in her Age Group, so we did need to hang out for awards and pickup her trophy that included a dinosaur on it too! Of note: the Malaysian women that came ahead of her was a friend she made in Bangkok 6 weeks ago!
Sunday Race day: This was the main event, and alot more organized with a much larger international field included. Marathon started at 3:00am, and the Half-Marathon judy was running started at 4:00am (with a 3h 30m cutoff). We were staying at a ‘race hotel’ in town, and there was a shuttle bus leaving from in front of our place to get us to the starting area ontime. With a much larger venue and a full international field, it was quite a spectacle: our arrival as ‘from Canada’ was announced as we wandered around the starting area. Organized cloths dropoff great, though longer lines to bathrooms created the usual pre-race scramble. There were corrals setup, and I first watched Judy’s countdown and half marathon start, 3000 runners whiz past with a blare of horns held by sponsors and race officials…. with fireworks lighting up the sky as well to boot!
My mini-marathon started 45 minutes later, and I got myself into the appropriate rear corral to begin my 11.55km run. Its traditional here for general runners to wear the race shirt to run in. As I started my run at 4:45am with another 3200 runners, I got into an easy groove and just made this a bit of a long-run. The first 2-3km I did spend alot of time dodging runners that had started too close to the starting line, and folks that were already walking! Going through the main streets of Khon Kaen initially, we climbed some gradual hills on closed roadways that had police controlling intersections. Making turns at major intersections, we then started a large loop around the outside perimeter of the Khon Khan University Campus. This was fun as there were cheer groups of students and other spectators along the way who were all having a good time at these early hours. Great to have water at regular 2-3km intervals, and we also had sports drinks along the way. I forgot my gel back at the hotel, so used the supplied fruit at the half way point, as well as an energy drink for a bit of nutrition along the way.
As the run progressed and we were 2km from finish, the half and full marathon runners merged onto our route, and this got the roads busy with runners again. We could hear the announcements and music well before we saw the sight end, and cruising over the finish line was a great feeling for another nice run in Thailand. Medals handed out, drinks provided, and also got a strip of 6 tickets to pickup food and beverages at the numerous food tents setup at the end. Found Judy here too, and she won another AG finish with 5th place finish, so we went to pickup extra food from the mind boggling 135 booths preparing post-race meals, and made our way into the Convention Hall where the awards were being finalized before being handed out. Note the Thai King and Queen were at the awards, handing out finisher prizes to overall winners of the Marathon. The Queen is an enthusiastic runner!
The finish areas here at Khon Kaen were truly amazing, and the runs we have here in North America defiantly pale in comparison when looking at the post-run treatment of the participants!
Would you do this event again? If we were in the area, for sure. A fun race, well organized and a fairly nice course. Being a bit further North, not as hot in the morning, so it’s not too much suffering in the heat.
Would you recommend this event? Absolutely yes. Great venue and course. Plenty of post race food and after party. The finisher shirts have dinosaur logo on them too, so how cool is that.
Run K2J 