The Course: Point to Point, With the Hills in the Middle
The half marathon and 10 km are point to point. Both start at Krabi Provincial Stadium in Ao Nang and finish at Noppharat Thara Beach, inside the Hat Noppharat Thara–Mu Ko Phi Phi National Park [1][2]. The organiser calls it a romantic point-to-point course [3].
On the 2026 map the half heads east on Route 4203, turns north on Route 4204 at about km 2, and runs west along Route 4234 from about km 7. It loops through km 10 to km 12 to a U-turn at about km 13.5, comes back south on Route 4210 past Ban Ao Nang School, rejoins Route 4203 at Ao Nang Beach around km 18, and follows the coast to the finish [2][4].
The organiser's elevation profile shows 182 m of climbing [2]. The first 7 km stay low, below about 25 m; the course then climbs to its high point of about 60 m around km 11 and km 12, rolls between about 35 m and 50 m to km 16, and drops to sea level by km 20 [2]. The hard part is the middle; the last 5 km are downhill or flat. The 10 km is gentler: 94 m of climbing and a high point of about 35 m, out and back east of the stadium to a U-turn at about km 1.5, then west through Ao Nang to the beach [5][4].
Timing mats at km 10, the U-turn and km 15 must all record you, or your result is a DNF [4]. At the 2024 race, one runner wrote that it was dark until about 18 km and that the route until then went along a highway, with the scenic part at the end [6].
The Weather: Saturated, Still and Misty
Krabi International Airport, about 20 km east-northeast of the start, recorded 24°C at 4am on race morning, with a dew point of 24°C, 100% humidity and no wind [7]. It stayed at 24°C, with mist from 5am, until 7am, and was 25°C with 100% humidity at 8am, when the half marathon closed [7]. On the Saturday evening the beach runs started in 25°C air with 100% humidity, a little after light rain at 5pm [8].
Air that is fully saturated gives sweat almost nowhere to go, so heat builds even at 24°C, and there is no breeze to help. The median half marathoner took 2:22:36 [9] and, starting at 4.30am, would have been done at about 7am, before the temperature started to rise. The 2024 runner summed up the conditions: crazy hot and humid, the same for everyone [6]. Treat the first 7 km, before the climb, as a warm-up.
Aid Stations and Cut-offs
The runner guide promises water every 2 km and at the finish, electrolyte drinks at km 6, 10, 14 and 18, an energy gel at km 10 and fruit at km 14 [4]. On-course toilets are at km 1.5, km 7 and km 16 [4], and the route map marks medical points near km 2, 7, 14, 17 and 20 [2].
The half has three and a half hours from its 4.30am start, with intermediate cut-offs: km 10 by 6.15am and km 15 by 7am, and the finish closes at 8am [2][4]. That works out at about 10 minutes per kilometre. Runners who miss a cut-off ride a DNF vehicle to the finish area, where they get runner food but no medal or finisher shirt [4]. The results still rank 26 half-marathon finishers with gun times over 3 hours 30, the slowest in 3:45:30 [9]. The 10 km has two and a half hours from 5am, the 5 km beach run 1 hour 15 and the 3 km an hour [10].
How Fast the Field Is
Poland's Krzysztof Hadas won the half in 1:08:57, one second ahead of Ethiopia's Tesfayetsegaye Keress (as the results list the name), with Diriba Dima of Ethiopia third in 1:09:15 [9]. Kenya's Fridah Jepkoech won the women's race in 1:20:55, from Tomomi Nakajima in 1:22:20 and Ethiopia's Martatinsae Birehan in 1:23:01 [9]. Intouch Jongjaijit and Piyanuch Sukchat were the fastest Thai runners, in 1:11:02 and 1:24:57 [1].
Behind them the field thins quickly. Tenth place was 1:18:57 for men and 1:42:43 for women [9]. Only 36 of the 1,341 finishers broke 1:30, and 344 broke two hours. The median time was 2:22:36: 2:16:25 for men and 2:35:05 for women [9].
The men's winning time was slower than in recent years: the 2025 men's race was won in 1:07:32, according to World Athletics [11], and Hadas himself won in 1:07:57 in 2023 [12]. The women's was faster than 2025's 1:25:42 [11]. The 10 km in 2026 was won by two Malaysian runners, in 32:38 and 40:50, and its median was 1:15:15 [9].
Prize money is paid in the open half (20,000, 15,000 and 10,000 baht for the top three), in a Thai-only half category (15,000 to 5,000 baht) and in the 10 km (10,000 to 5,000 baht), with trophies for the top five in each age group [13]. The first 100 men and 100 women in the half, on chip time, get a souvenir mascot [4].
Who Runs It
The 2026 results list 1,341 half-marathon finishers, 930 men and 411 women, and 888 finishers in the 10 km [9], up from 1,169 and 682 in 2025 [14]. The half's finishers came from 37 countries and territories: 1,038 from Thailand, 153 from Malaysia, 22 from Indonesia and 21 from the United Kingdom, among others [9]. The organiser's release put the whole weekend at more than 4,000 runners [1]; the organiser had capped entries at 2,500 for the half, 1,500 for the 10 km, 500 for the 5 km and 300 for the 3 km [10].
Race Weekend Logistics
Race packs were collected only on the Saturday, 10am to 6pm, at the Noppharat Thara activity area, with ID; there was no collection on race day, and a friend can collect for you only with proof of registration and a copy of your ID [4]. The 5 km and 3 km beach runs started at 5.30pm and 5.40pm that evening, out and back along Noppharat Thara Beach [4][15].
Because the Sunday races are point to point, the organiser runs shuttle buses to the stadium from the Holiday Inn Resort Krabi Ao Nang Beach, the Holiday Ao Nang Beach Resort and Holiday Style Ao Nang Resort, and Ao Nang Landmark, from 3am to 4.45am, and back from the national park's campsite junction from 7.30am to 9.30am [4]. You can flag a shuttle down along its route. Parking at the stadium holds about 250 cars and at Ao Nang Landmark about 500 [4]. The 2024 runner booked a race hotel on the shuttle route for exactly this reason [6].
The start area opens at 3am; the organiser asks runners to arrive at least an hour early and to enter only the start block printed on their bib [4]. Bag-drop trucks at the stadium take bags from 3am to 4.50am and hand them back at Noppharat Thara from 6.30am to 9am [4].
At the finish every runner gets a medal, a souvenir bag, water, an electrolyte drink, fruit, an ice cream and a food coupon for two savoury dishes and one dessert; half-marathon finishers also get a finisher shirt and use of an iced foot bath [4]. Unofficial results come from a QR code on your bib, and nothing is printed on site [4].
The half cost 900 baht in the flash sale, 950 early bird and 1,100 regular, the 10 km 700 to 850 baht, plus a 7% registration and payment fee [16]. Entry fees are not refundable in any case, including if the race is cancelled, and entries cannot be transferred; anyone caught running on another person's bib, and the person who gave it, is banned from the organiser's races for three years [4][3].
Should You Enter the 2027 Race?
Yes, if you want a half marathon with a beach holiday attached and a limit that forgives walking. The organisation is thorough, from shuttles and bag trucks to food at the finish, the 10 km and beach runs give companions something to enter, and age-group trophies go five deep.
Think twice if you are chasing a personal best. The course has 182 m of climbing, most of it between km 7 and km 16, and in 2026 the air was saturated from start to finish. Much of the half is run before dawn, and in 2024 at least one runner found the first 18 km more highway than scenery.
The organiser's release says the series will return in 2027, but no date for the next Krabi race had been published when this was written [1].
Nobody from this site ran the race. This review draws on the organiser's runner guide, route maps and race information, the full published results, World Athletics results for earlier years, airport weather records, Thai press coverage and one runner's account of the 2024 race.