Elevation Profile #1: Carnival x Pleasures, Satisfy LSD #3, CNX Specialty Shops

Elevation Profile is a somewhat weekly column from Doi Trail Research covering the world of trail running, running fashion, and outdoor culture — with a particular eye on Thailand and Southeast Asia.

The Bangkok running culture scene is in full swing, Chiang Mai is quietly stacking specialty gear, and the trail running world just got a shakeup with a major athlete signing and a new entrant at WSER. A lot happened this week. Let's get into it.

Carnival x Pleasures — Back-to-back hits

Carnival has been building out its running identity fast, following last week's shoe drop with Saucony. This week's collaboration with Los Angeles-based streetwear label Pleasures made it official that Bangkok's own is here to strike while the iron is hot.

The drop included three pieces — a long-sleeve in tan, a short-sleeve in blue featuring a skeleton-style graphic, and a matching cap — with its signature pieces selling out in two to three minutes flat.

Personally, I made it out with the Desert Trail Cap: blue, 100% nylon, clean. No skeleton graphics on the hat unfortunately, but it's a sharp piece, and the nylon construction is an interesting call — most of my running caps are polyester, so I'm curious how it holds up in the field.

Pleasures has been dipping into the running space for a while. I first noticed them with the On x Pleasures x The Loop collab about a year ago, and then again more recently with Altra. But tapping Carnival specifically — a Bangkok streetwear label — signals that Southeast Asia isn't just a distribution afterthought anymore.

Carnival is clearly pulling the right strings here and it's awesome to see a running brand from Bangkok playing at this level.

Cruise Control x Satisfy LSD #3 — For the culture

Bangkok's Cruise Control Run Club hosted their third Satisfy LSD run on May 2nd, starting and ending at The Dough BKK.

If you haven't been to one of these, the format is exactly what it sounds like — a long slow distance run built around gear, paced groups, good vibes and people who care about all of it. Cruise Control does a good job of making sure no one gets dropped, with group leaders keeping the community feel intact whether you're at the front or the back.

This is the event for the running fashionista, the gear-obsessed, the person who got into running through aesthetics and stayed for the people at CCRC.

One thing is for certain, SATISFY as a brand choice isn't incidental — it's a signal and you really can't deny it. Especially when it's printed on sourdough.

From what I heard, the lemon tart and mason jar guava juice waiting at the finish line were a genuine highlight. Honestly, anytime guava juice finds its way to the end of a run, it's better than 10 kudos on Strava. I don’t make the rules.

Chiang Mai Recognition: Portal at Tann, PNS on Nimman, and Wood and Mountain at Andaz

Tann — the specialty coffee shop on Nimman that hosts a weekly Wednesday 7 a.m. run that our Doi Research Team joins — just announced they're carrying Portal's Spring/Summer 2026 collection.

Standouts include the Borders Cargo Belt (extra storage compared to other running belts), the Radius Cap in all the necessary earth tones, the Marka Liner Shorts, and the Lateral Peak SS Tee, which has their unique flower logo centered on the chest that I really like.

Worth trying before buying, though — the sizing runs a little off.

A few doors down, Pas Normal Studios just opened their own physical store on Nimman Soi 5. Jerseys, bibs, caps, water bottles, and for the cyclists in the room, Scope wheels and CeramicSpeed bearings.

PNS on Nimman feels right. The street is slowly becoming the kind of place where this stuff just exists, which is exactly how it should be.

Separately, Andaz's One Bangkok celebrated its grand opening this week with an event called Unveiled, built around a concept they're calling The Vertical Neighborhood — blending local craft with global identity.

The space was decorated with hand-painted textiles by our friend Given Pimpisa, the founder and designer behind Wood and Mountain and a regular face in Chiang Mai's trail-running scene. Given draws her design language from the natural world — mountain topography, tree bark, and the landscape she runs through. It's not running gear, although I did hike up Mt. Kinabalu in Wood and Mountain's Mycelium pants.

But what's important is seeing a Chiang Mai trail runner's creative practice invited onto a stage like Andaz's grand opening — that's the kind of crossover that matters.

Jim Walmsley vs. Killian Jornet: The Western States we've been waiting for, again

The 2026 Western States 100 takes place June 27–28, 5 a.m. start, and if you follow trail running at all, you already know what this matchup means. Jim Walmsley — 4-time WSER champion and course record holder — is back on the start line. So is Kilian Jornet, who needs no introduction because he's the GOAT.

This deserves a highlight, not only because I'm a big fan of both, but so is everyone else. And if you aren't, you just don't know enough about ultra running history yet — which is fine, but catch up.

I think a lot of trail runners in Thailand got their start in Hoka Speedgoats, and a lot of that has everything to do with watching Walmsley run. He's the kind of athlete who makes you want to buy whatever's on his feet.

The competitive field at Western States seems to have slightly caught up to him in recent years — he's older, wiser, and a bit more French— but Jim is Jim.

And this version of Kilian Jornet is coming off his States of Elevation project, where he shared he's feeling fitter than ever at 38 years old. Which is a wild thing to hear from someone who ran Western States back in 2010 as a 22-year-old.

But what I'll be watching as closely as the race itself: what shoe does Walmsley line up in? He's run Western States in custom Hoka prototypes before — customized versions of the Tecton X 2 that never made it to international retail.

Whether Hoka has something new on his feet this year is worth tracking. Seven weeks out, so watch this space.

Fuzhao Xiang leaves Hoka for Arc'teryx

Three days ago, on April 30th, Chinese trail running star Fuzhao Xiang officially announced she's signed with Arc'teryx. Her words: "Joining Arc'teryx marks a new beginning. One that allows me to keep progressing in a wider range of mountain environments and share the unique appeal of trail running with more people."

During her previous six years with Hoka, she secured a 4th place finish at UTMB 2023 — the highest-ever ranking for a Chinese athlete at the time — and took back-to-back second-place finishes at Western States 100 in 2024 and 2025. That's a résumé.

What makes this move interesting isn't just the athlete — it's the brand strategy behind it. Arc'teryx is owned by Anta Sports, the Chinese sporting goods giant, and they've been deliberately building out a trail running athlete roster. This isn't a vanity signing. Anta understands the Chinese trail running market at scale, and Fuzhao is one of the most prominent Chinese female athletes in the sport.

Expect Arc'teryx to come with a serious trail running performance product in the next year or two. They're clearly building toward something.

Amazean Jungle Thailand by UTMB — BROOO runs the jungle

The Amazean Jungle Thailand by UTMB 2026 went down this week in Betong, Yala — deep in the Thai-Malaysia border jungle. It's the first of two UTMB-affiliated races in Thailand this year, and one of the most important events on the regional calendar if you're trying to earn stones toward the UTMB World Series Final.

Bangkok-based running brand BROOO had a strong weekend across the board. In the 100M category, Arunsak Lomcharoenlap finished 8th overall with a time of 22:19:21. In the MIST 20K, Parattakoran Suppalapwattam took the overall win, with our friend Quentin Vieville rounding out the podium in 3rd. In the Flower 20K, Nicholas Farley came in 8th and BROOO co-founder Ong (Kasidit Duangwaraporn) finished 10th overall. With top ten finishers across almost every major category, BROOO definitely has an eye for talent.

Wyrd Running SS26 — Worth Knowing About

Hong Kong-based Wyrd Running just dropped their Spring/Summer 2026 collection, and if you're not familiar with them yet, now's a good time to pay attention. They self-describe as "premium alt-running apparel," and what sets them apart visually from most Southeast Asian brands right now is their use of all-over prints. It's a distinct design language in a space that still leans heavily on minimalism.

The piece I'm most interested in is the Motion Devon Stripe Tee — it reads like a 90s skate tee, but the side panel fabric is built at 80GSM for actual performance. That balance between aesthetic and performance is tough to pull off, but Wyrd does a good job here.

For running in Asia's heat and humidity, the spec makes sense. Asian brands tend to get this right — the emphasis on technical fabric performance is a direct response to the climate, and it shows.

Personally, the only brand that can get away with putting runners in cotton and having them run in Asia in the summer is Satisfy. If you're wearing MothTech in this heat and humidity for performance and you're not at an LSD run, we might need to talk.