Elevation Profile #10: Chiang Mai, Rayong, Koh Chang, Bangkok, and Silverton, Colorado

Elevation Profile is a 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.

From Chiang Mai to Rayong to a 50-year-old breaking his own Hardrock course record in a Jim Walmsley prototype, and from Carnival's most ambitious store yet to a new issue of Mental Athletic that shut down Paris. A lot happened this week. Let's get into it.

doi Strength for Runners x Grithood

Last week, doi trail research had the opportunity to collaborate with Grit Hood, a wellness activity club here in Chiang Mai, for a special edition of doi Strength for Runners.

With exactly one month until CM6, one of the biggest trail races of the year, and Hyrox Bangkok following the week after, we had a room full of do-it-all runners who needed to prepare for both. So the workout was built around that. Six stations total: the first three focused on single-leg plyometric movements for the trail runners in the room, and the last three shifted toward Hyrox-specific force production. A session that tested both types of athletes.

Here is the full workout for anyone who wants to try it:

Station 1: Bulgarian Plyometric Split Squats Three rounds of 30 seconds continuous, 30 seconds continuous, 30 seconds rest. The goal is single-leg power and explosiveness. Explode up with a small hop, slow the lowering, and keep the upper body moving like you're running. Count total reps.

Station 2: Lateral Bound to Stick Three rounds of 30 seconds left to right, 30 seconds right to left, 30 seconds rest. Jump, land quietly, hold for one second, reset. Built for lateral stability and reactive strength on technical trails. Quality over distance.

Station 3: Box Step-Up with Knee Drive Three rounds of 30 seconds left, 30 seconds right, 30 seconds rest. Drive through the box, powerful knee drive at the top, slow and controlled on the way down. This one is all about climbing power.

Station 4: Walking Sandbag Lunges Three rounds of 30 seconds left lead, 30 seconds right lead, 30 seconds rest. Tall posture, long stride, push the ground away. Developing force production under load for the Hyrox side of the room.

Station 5: Sled Push and Pull Three rounds of one minute continuous push-pull, 30 seconds rest. Body at roughly 45 degrees, powerful short strides, constant pressure on the sled. Measure distance if you can.

Station 6: Wall Balls Three rounds of one minute, 30 seconds rest. Full squat, push from the legs, aim for the target. Full body power with every rep. Count your reps per minute and try to match them round to round.

We finished the whole session with a team rowing challenge. First team of five to hit 2,000 meters took home prizes from our sponsors at Fruitbound and Wilder. The competition was real.

Thank you to everyone at Grit Hood for joining us. They are a lovely group of people, and this was one of the best sessions we have done. We are looking forward to our next doi Strength for Runners on July 26 at the new Training Box location, and we are excited to announce that our next collaboration will be with XYZclub.cnx

Run2Paradise CNX and Escape.Runn Host a Norda 001A Trail Run

Following the exclusive Norda event in EP#9, where we met co-founder Nick Martire, Run2Paradise Nimman put together a Norda 001A try-on run for the Chiang Mai community. A big thank you to Escape.Runn for letting us join!

If you follow our friends from Escape.Runn, you already know about their signature "handsome downhill," a surf and skateboard-inspired technique sliding down the mountain trails on foot. It looks as cool as it sounds, and it puts serious demands on a shoe. The upper has to handle mountain elements and the tension of that kind of lateral movement, which is why it is no surprise that the Escape.Runn crew has been wearing the Norda 001 and 001A for as long as anyone can remember. The Dyneema upper is the reason: it is as close to indestructible as a running shoe upper gets.

The Norda 001A is built on the same technical foundation. Bio-based Dyneema upper, Arnitel TPEE foam midsole that doesn't pack out past 1,000 kilometers of use, Vibram Megagrip and Litebase outsole with 5mm lugs, and the norda Lock System, an internal sock-like gusset that locks the midfoot in place on technical terrain. It is a do-it-all mountain shoe that earns its premium price through longevity more than anything else.

Today's route was around 5km with just over 250 meters of elevation gain, which gave the community enough time to feel out the shoe properly and compare it against whatever they were already running in.

As a Norda 001A owner myself, I can say that the confidence this shoe gives you on descent is real. Knowing the upper is not going to blow out changes how you run. But what is getting me more excited is the Norda 055. The question is if my wallet is ready for it 5555.

Chiang Mai Run Club Highlights

Sunday was a busy day in Chiang Mai. While we were over at Run2Paradise with Escape.Runn for the Norda try-on run, two other great events were happening across the city at the same time. We wish we could have been everywhere, but honestly, this is exactly what we love to see.

Dude Run Club, headed up by our good friends Kevin and Sanjo, partnered with Suki at Mileage for a long run day out of Huay Tueng Tao Lake. The group took the classic route up to the village of Kun Chang Kian, stopped to eat, and made their way back down. Around 21km and 1,000 meters of elevation. Before the run, Mileage came through with their HydroGel and hydration mix to make sure everyone was set up properly. A solid long day in the mountains with good people, and a great partnership between two crews that are doing things right.

The second event was put together by our friends at Eazy Run and Introvert Running Club. Labeam and Nicky from Eazy Run teamed up with Gift and Gu from Introvert Running Club for an easy trail run: Basecamp Coffee Club up to Wat Pha Lat, across to Viewpoint 1, and back down through Galae. About 7km with around 300 meters of elevation. Coffee and snacks at the finish, and from everything we saw in the recap, the vibes were exactly what you hope for from a collab like that.

Three different events on the same Sunday morning, and every one of them takes people out onto the trails around Chiang Mai. Trail culture here is thriving, and we are so proud of the community that keeps building this.

Trail Masters Series 2026: Race 1

The Trail Masters Series returned to the calendar this week with Race 1, held on Sunday, July 12 at St. Andrews International School in Green Valley, Ban Chang, Rayong, organized by Merrell and Isuzu V-Cross 4x4. Four distances were on offer: a 45km flagship, a 27km performance category, an 11km, and a Fun Run.

The course is known for deceiving runners early. The opening kilometers run on smooth asphalt out of the school campus, which tempts people into going out too fast before the course drops into single-track through dense jungle, mango plantations, and cassava farms. The technical sections include Khao Chom Hae forest tracks, the steep Nok Kaeo Hill, and the ridgeline section known as The Dragon's Backbone.

In the 27km, Vladislav Demianov took the overall win in 2:35:58, with Supattra Matsilp claiming the women's title in 3:29:47. If that name sounds familiar, it should: Supattra won the Soimalai Trail women's race in EP#6, and then came back to win the Phayao Mountain Run 38km women's race in EP#9. She keeps showing up at the top of results sheets, and this one is no different.

The 45km brought a strong field. Paul Dunn took the men's race in 5:03:30, with Khan Watcharaphon close behind in 2nd. If you remember EP#9, Paul finished 2nd at the TNF100 100km in Thailand, the one famous for racing with a Hello Kitty backpack.

On the women's side, Phitchanan Mahachot won in 7:01:37. Chiang Mai's own Darika Suwanmongkol, who won the TNF100 100km women's race in EP#9 and took 2nd female at the MyHomeTrail Unknown 50k in EP#7, came in 2nd roughly 30 minutes back. It has been a relentless stretch of racing for Darika.

In the 11km, Wuttipong Kamsri took the overall win in 53:30, and if that name rings a bell, Wuttipong won the TNF100 15km that we covered in EP#9. Ketkarn Suwanmanee won the women's race in 1:05:50.

For some friends of doi, a strong day across the board. Brooo athlete Quentin Vieville finished 7th overall and took 1st in his age group in the 11km.

Joey Perawat Silapa-Ariya, who we last saw having a great result at the TNF100 in EP#9, kept the momentum going with 7th overall and 1st in his age group in the 27km.

Our good friend in Chiang Mai, Dakorn Senakun, also had a solid 27km, coming in 7th in his age group. Great results from everyone who made the trip down to Rayong.

Thai Trail Weekend: Rimpha X Trail and Koh Chang Ultra

While the Trail Masters field was racing through Rayong, two more events were happening across Thailand that deserve a mention.

In Nakhon Ratchasima, the Rimpha X Trail 2026 took place July 11 and 12 at the Plant Genetic Conservation Project in Sikhiu, with distances from 7km up to 100km. This was the fourth and final event in the Korat X Trail Series, which means runners who completed all four events this year earn the "X Master" distinction — a mark of consistency that the Thai trail community takes seriously.

The course runs through the rugged terrain of Korat, navigating cliff-edge trails (that's where the "Rimpha" name comes from) with views out over the Lam Ta Khong reservoir. The race has built a reputation for exceptional organization: enthusiastic volunteers, well-stocked aid stations, staff cutting fresh fruit out on course. With local government and the Sports Authority of Thailand backing it, Sikhiu is becoming a real destination on the Thai trail calendar.

In the 100km, Kritthakorn Pirakritphirom won the men's race in 15:07:26, with Kunnika Tonsakul taking the women's title in 16:18:13.

In the 54km, Supat Bunjuar crossed first overall in 5:53:31, and doi friend Marie Pinnell, based in Chonburi, took 1st female in 6:37:17.

In the 30km, Brooo athlete Chinnakrit Soongpankhao won in 2:42:30 and Areerat Kareeklin topped the women's podium in 3:47:00.

On the opposite end of the country, the Koh Chang Ultra-Trail and Camping Run was running from July 10 to 12 at Wat Salak Phet School in Koh Chang Tai, Trat. The race takes runners through Mu Ko Chang National Park on a course that moves between dense tropical rainforest, hidden waterfalls, and white-sand beaches — terrain that is almost impossible to experience any other way.

Distances go up to 100km, with the longest races starting at 4am in complete darkness. Camping on-site is part of the entry, which turns the whole weekend into something closer to a jungle expedition than a standard race.

In the 100km, Thanathorn Khaojaree from Chanthaburi Province took the overall win in 18:17:20. In the 50km, Danon Rattanatumrong won the men's race in 7:01:52, with doi friend Kloy Jitnapha taking the women's title in 10:15:53.

In the 20km, another doi friend Wann Chotiphat Srithanawarakit, who we last saw at CM Nouveau in EP#7, came in 2nd overall and 1st in age group in 3:17:16. Great to see Wann racing all the way down to Koh Chang.

Two events on opposite ends of the country on the same weekend. The Thai trail scene is wide and it keeps growing.

Cruise Control Run Club Hosts SATISFY Bangkok LSD #4

There is something about a 5am alarm, a good outfit, and a 13km run through a city that's still waking up that is hard to beat.

Our friends at Cruise Control Run Club hosted the fourth edition of SATISFY Bangkok LSD on Saturday morning, starting at 6am from the Larder Chatuchak and winding through Victory Monument, Vajiravudh College, and back along Rama V road before finishing with coffee, guava juice, and sandwiches.

Every time we see a Cruise Control run come through our feed, the FOMO is real. There is something they do really well, which is make a long slow distance always feel like an event worth showing up for. No way the weather or the humidity, the CCRC always brings out the best in events and always in the gear.

We are excited for the day when a little bit of SATISFY LSD makes its way up to the trail. But we can't say much yet.

Carnival One Bangkok: A New Home for Running Culture

Carnival has opened its largest store ever at One Bangkok, and it is a serious statement of intent for what a running-first retail space can look like in Thailand.

The flagship spans 1,300 square meters across two floors in The Storeys zone, divided into dedicated sections for running, athletics, and golf, alongside a Sector-01 exhibition space for rotating art and cultural events, and the first-ever Carnival Coffee café on the ground floor.

The store faces out toward Lumphini Park, and they have set up a shoe-testing service where you can borrow a pair for up to two hours to actually run in before you buy. That is the kind of thing that earns trust.

The brand lineup reads like a shortlist of everything we have been covering in this column: SATISFY, SOAR, District Vision, Norda, ROA, Hermanos Koumori, HOKA, On, ASICS, Saucony, Nike, adidas, and Carnival's own running line, among others.

If you are in Bangkok and want to feel out new gear before committing, this is the place.

Nike ACG Radical Airflow: Gone in Thailand

The Nike ACG Radical Airflow NXT has officially sold out in Thailand, faster than pretty much anyone expected.

At 4,300 THB, the shirt is built around cone-shaped open-hole engineering: funnel-shaped vents that channel air directly to the skin, and when soaked in water, the structure retains moisture while letting wind pass through for a significant cooling effect.

Nike calls it absorbing 50% less sweat than standard Dri-FIT, and anyone who has run in Chiang Mai heat knows why that headline sells.

If you are still looking for one, your best options are Carnival One Bangkok, Ari Running One Bangkok, or the Nike store in Central Festival Chiang Mai.

HOKA Clifton Pro

HOKA launched the Clifton Pro globally on July 9, and the positioning is clear from the first look: this is not your daily walk-around Clifton.

The Pro model is built with a new PROGLIDE+ supercritical EVA midsole and a more aggressive MetaRocker geometry than the standard Clifton, pushing it into super trainer territory for runners who want a livelier, more energetic daily shoe without jumping straight to a carbon race shoe.

Stack height is 42mm at the heel with an 8mm drop, and the outsole uses podular Durabrasion rubber for durability. It comes in at $165.

HOKA marked the launch in Bangkok with a media and community event at the HOKA store in Siam Center, where attendees took the Clifton Pro for a real test run at Thephasadin Stadium as part of their "Run It Again" campaign. Good to see the launch matched with actual running.

Hardrock 100 2026: Records are Meant to be Broken

The Hardrock 100 is 102.5 miles through Colorado's San Juan Mountains, with 33,000 feet of climbing, an average elevation above 11,000 feet, and a 48-hour cutoff. Runners do not cross a finish line; instead, they kiss the legendary Hardrock.

This year's edition produced something almost too good to believe. Ludovic Pommeret of France, just turned 50, won the men's race in 21:11:36, breaking his own course record by more than 20 minutes and claiming his third consecutive Hardrock title.

He was wearing the Hoka Tecton X 2.5, a prototype that was originally built specifically for Jim Walmsley and saw only very limited release. The shoe fitting the story: a prototype built for one legend, raced to a new record by another.

Jimmy Elam of Utah finished 2nd in 23:48:56 in the Norda 055s, already adding to the shoe's legacy after Rachel Entrekin notably finished first overall at the Cocodona 250. David Ayala of Montana was 3rd in 24:28:17.

On the women's side, Courtney Dauwalter led wire-to-wire to take her fourth consecutive Hardrock title, finishing in 26:03:10 and breaking the clockwise course record. She finished 5th overall against the full field. She wore her signature limited-edition Salomon S/LAB Ultra Glide 2 Courtney edition for the entirety of the race, which is a remarkable thing to consider over 102.5 miles of that terrain. The final 30 miles, she later said, were pure misery, fighting severe stomach issues through the night. She finished anyway.

Careth Arnold, who runs for Altra, was 2nd in 30:32:31 in her Hardrock debut. Tara Dower, who also runs for Altra, was 3rd in 33:02:04, just 13 days after placing 6th at Western States 100.

Tara now makes history setting the women's record for the fastest Western States-Hardrock double combined time, with the two races less than two weeks apart. Absolutely insane to pull something like that off. The depth across both fields this year was something else.

TUDOR and UTMB: Where Luxury Meets Dirt

Swiss watchmaker TUDOR is the official timing and partnership brand for the global UTMB World Series, and the alignment has been sparking conversation across both the watch world and the trail running community.

The partnership makes sense on paper. TUDOR's "Born to Dare" brand philosophy maps cleanly onto a sport where 40% of starters at the flagship UTMB Mont-Blanc race don't finish. The brand has signed Courtney Dauwalter, Rémi Bonnet, Baptiste Chassagne, and Miao Yao as ambassadors, which is an incredible roster of global trail talent.

For trail running, having a legacy Swiss brand invest at this level is a sign of legitimacy that the sport has been earning for years.

The more interesting conversation is the one happening in watch forums. The obvious tension is that nobody racing a 106-mile mountain loop is wearing a mechanical Swiss watch on their wrist. They are wearing Garmin, Coros, or Suunto, pulling GPS tracks and heart rate data for the duration.

TUDOR has leaned into this directly, framing the watch not as a race tool but as an emotional marker, something you earn and wear afterward to commemorate the finish. That reframe is smart and to be honest is just good marketing. It works in the same way that a marathon finisher's medal works: the value is symbolic, not functional.

I'm not sure if it makes me want to buy a Tudor just yet. When I think of a beautiful watch that is symbolic of the mountain, the Rolex Explorer and the Seiko Alpinist come to mind. But hey, if this means that big money is coming to trail running and it gets people to embrace a sport that we love. Why not!

Aimé Leon Dore x New Balance: New York Takes on the Track

Aimé Leon Dore and New Balance dropped their Spring/Summer 2026 running capsule this week, and it's again another instance of streetwear and running brand meeting at an intersection. Which to be fair, I always get excited about.

Two shoes: the FuelCell Rebel v5 in a deep Atlantic cobalt blue at $150 for daily training, and the FuelCell SC Elite v5 in a Pine Grove gradient green-to-black at $270 for race day.

Alongside those, the collection includes technical outerwear, running shorts, and a running utility vest with two Hydrapak SoftFlasks built in.

The color story pulls hard from NYC marathon culture, specifically the blue-and-orange visual language of the city which is very New York Knicks coded. And to be fair, why not play up to this since the Knicks are the 2026 NBA Champions after a 53-year championship drought. It is nostalgic in the right way, and it sits cleanly in the performance space rather than ALD's more typical vintage lifestyle territory. The community seems to be loving it.

The apparel launched July 9. The footwear follows on July 16, though European and UK buyers are excluded from the shoe drop, which has been a source of real frustration across those markets.

This one keeps the conversation going that we have been tracking throughout this column. The line between running performance and streetwear keeps getting pushed, and well, I'm here for it. But I hope these collabs never get lazy.