Running has never been high on our list of things to do. Especially after moving to Phuket, with +30°C degrees most days, jogging in the steamy tropics seems, well, insane.
But a lot of people do it!
There’s a growing sub-culture of running here in Phuket, which we discovered after our daughter joined a running club at school and started doing fun runs. “Fun run” seems more of an oxymoron, so imagine our surprise when we took our daughter to her first race and found hundreds of people hopping around at the start line, ready to go.
And the run start time was at the beastly pre-dawn hour of 6am. On a Sunday.
Crazy, right?
We’ve since gone to more of these runs around the island and have slowly come to understand the appeal. The camaraderie. The challenge, the strength building. The victorious energy boost when crossing the finish line. The feeling of being part of something larger, a colourful group of people huffing and puffing together along the pre-dawn streets of Phuket.
Fun runs are sometimes set up as part of a serious running event, like the Laguna Phuket Marathon, while others are solely “fun run” events. Every race we’ve seen has a 10km or 11km category then shorter distance categories of something between 3km and 6.5km. Runners are not timed, so bring along your Fitbit or similar to check your speed and run time. Most Phuket fun runs are free to enter, or have a low entry fee of 250 to 350 baht including an event T-shirt.
These local fun runs are usually advertised in Thai only, so it can be tough to find out about these races if you don’t understand Thai. So here’s a list of some upcoming events for 2018 with links to the event organisers wherever possible. We’ll update this page as we find out about more races.
If you know of any fun runs happening on or near Phuket that don’t appear on this list, please tell us about it in the comments below or send an email to lana (@) gophuket.net.
January 2018
January 7
Muang Phuket School Mini Marathon
Location: Muang Phuket Municipal School
Start time: 06:00
Route distances: 3.5km and 10.5km
February 2018
February 4
Vichit Mini Marathon
Location: Vichit Municipality office
Start time: 06:00
Route distances: 4.5km and 10.5km
February 11
Chalong Hospital Run
Location: Nai Harn Lake
Start time: 06:00
Route distances: 3.5km and 11.5km
Run in support of: Local public hospital
February 17
Phuket Night Run
Location: Limelight Avenue, Phuket Town
Start time: 22:30 (registration 19:00-21:00)
Route distances: 3.2km walk, 5.4km, 10.6km
Run in support of: Gibbon Rehabilitation Project
February 18
Run for Health
Location: Siriroj International Hospital, Phuket Town
Start time: 06:00
Route distances: 6km and 11km
February 25
OrBorJor Phuket Mini Marathon
Location: Sanamchai Stadium, Phuket Town
Start time: 06:00
Route distances: 4km and 10km
March 2018
March 4
Run for Life
Location: Bang Wad Dam, Kathu
Start time: 06:00
Route distances: 3.5km and 10.3km
Run in support of: Vachira Hospital child health department
March 10
BISP Run the Hour
Location: British International School Phuket, Koh Kaew
Start time: 16:00
Route distances: 1 mile (family fun run) or as far as you can run in 1 hour
March 11
Thalang Victory Mini Marathon
Location: Thalang Victory Memorial Field
Start time: 05:00
Route distances: 4.5km and 10.5km
March 18
Paklok Super Mini Marathon
Location: Paklok (Phuket east coast)
Start time: 05:30
Route distances: 2km walk, 5km and 15km
March 18
Run for Blood
Location: Kata-Karon Beach
Start time: 05:00
Route distances: 3km, 5km and 10km
March 24-25
Supersports 10 Mile International Run Phuket
Location: Thanyapura Resort, Thalang
Start time: 17:00 March 24, 06:00 March 25
Route distances: 500m for kids 4-12, 3-mile (4.8 km), 5-mile (8 km) and 10-mile (16 km)
March 31
Run for Rangers Khao Sok
Location: Khao Sok, Surat Thani
Start time: 06:09
Route distances: 3.6km, 11.8km, 21.8km
April 2018
April 1
Rawai Mini Marathon
Location: Rawai Beach
Start time: 06:00
Route distances: 4.5km and 11km
May 2018
May 13
Prunai Run Koh Yao Noi
Location: Koh Yao Noi, Phang Nga
Start time: 06:00
Route distance: 4.2km
Run in support of: New medical equipment for Koh Yao Noi hospital
June 2018
June 9
Laguna Phuket Marathon – Fun Runs
Location: Laguna Phuket, near Bangtao Beach
Start time: 16:00
Route distances: 2km, 5km and 10.5km (marathon runs are on June 10)
June 17
Mission Charity Run
Location: Bang Wad Dam, Kathu
Start time: 06:00
Route distances: 3.5km and 10km
June 30
Miss Grand Charity Night Run
Location: Limelight Avenue, Phuket Town
Start time: 20:00
Route distances: 3.5km and 10km
Note: Miss Grand beauty contestants from all 77 provinces of Thailand will join the race. Money raised will go to buy motorbike helmets for school kids.
July 2018
July 8
Surin Beach – Grey-Red Mini Marathon
Location: Surin Beach
Start time: 06:00
Route distances: 5km and 10km
July 15
Chalong Minimarathon
Location: Near the Caltex station, Chaofa East Rd
Start time: 06:00
Route distances: 4.2km, 9.3km
July 29
Kathu Cultural Fun Run
Location: Kathu, starting point near the Kathu Health Centre
Start time: 15:00
Route distances: 3.5km, 6km
August 2018
August 5
Bangkok Airways Phuket Half Marathon
Location: Saphan Hin Park, Phuket Town
Start time: 05:30
Route distances: 5km, 10km, 21km
September 2018
September 2
King of the Mountain Trail Run
Location: Khao Phra Thaew National Park
Start time: 06:00
Route distances: 4km, 8km and 15km
Note: Open to age 18+ years old only (not really a fun run, but a good challenge!)
September 9
Bang Wad Mini Marathon 2
Location: Bang Wad Dam, Kathu
Start time: 06:00
Route distances: to be announced
September 9
Run2Gether Phuket
Location: Saphan Hin Park, Phuket Town
Start time: 06:00
Route distances: 5km and 10km
Note: Run in support of Phuket Disabled Persons Association, free of charge for disabled athletes who join
September 16
Heartbreak Hill Mini-Marathon
Location: Ban Ao Nam Bor School, Khao Khad
Start time: 06:00
Route distances: 6km and 10km
September 23
Run to Give 2018
Location: Bang Wad Dam, Kathu
Start time: 06:00
Route distances: 3.5km, 10km and 21km
Note: Proceeds in support of Maha Jakri Sirinthorn’s Children’s Project and Pun Fhun Pun Yim Foundation
October 2018
October 7
Dibuk Healthy Run
Location: Dibuk Hospital, Chaofa West Road
Start time: 06:00
Route distances: 3km, 5km 11km
October 20
Mahanakorn Charity Fun Run
Location: Bangwad Dam, Kathu
Start time: 05:30
Route distance: 6km
October 21
Turtle Fun Run Half Marathon
Location: Phuket Gateway, Mai Khao
Start time: 05:30
Route distances: Family 3km, Fun Run 5km, Mini Marathon 10km, Half Marathon 21km
For more details: Phuket turtle run
October 27
Better Together Run
Location: Bangwad Dam, Kathu
Start time: 06:00
Route distances: 6km, 12km
Note: Racers are to run in pairs — “better together”, get it?
October 28
Nurses Run for Health
Location: Bangwad Dam, Kathu
Start time: 06:00
Route distances: 2.5km, 6km, 10.5km
October 28
Khao Mai Thao Sib Song Extra Mini Marathon 2018
Location: Chalong, starting point near Klong Krata reservoir
Start time: 06:00
Route distances: 5km, 12km
November 2018
November 4
Phuket Health Series 1
Location: Phuket Town
Start time: 6am
Route distances: 3km, 9km
Note: This is the first of a series of four runs where participants sign up to run an increased distance in four runs over nine months. In the “Healthy” and “Family” categories, runners start at 3km for the first race, then increase to 5km, 7km and 9km for the next three races. For “Super Healthy” runners, the first run is 9km, followed by runs of 12km, 15km and 18km. We’ll add details on the next 3 runs in this series as they come available.
November 9-11
Phukethon – Marathon and Fun Runs
Location: Saphan Hin, Phuket Town
Start time: TBA
Route distances: Colour fun runs 1km, 2km and 5km; Jelly beach run 5km (at Nai Harn Beach); Marathon (42km), Half marathon (21km), Mini marathon (10km)
November 10
Thanyapura Colour Fun Run
Location: Thanyapura Resort, Thalang
Start time: 16:00
Route distances: 1.5km and 4km
November 17
Laguna Phuket Triathlon – Charity Fun Run
Location: Laguna Phuket, near Bangtao Beach
Start time: 16:15
Route distances: 2km kids, 5km, 10km
December 2018
December 9
Bangtao Charity Minimarathon
Location: Bangtao Beach
Start time: 06:00
Route distances: 5km, 10km (350 baht entry fee)
December 16
Bang Neaw Mini Marathon
Location: Bang Neaw Municipal School, Phuket Town
Start time: 06:00
Route distances: 4km, 10.5km (entry fee 350 baht)
December 23
Kathu Half Marathon 2018
Location: Kathu Town Municipality, Kathu
Start time: 05:30
Route distances: 21km (entry fee 450 baht), 10.5km (350 baht), 6km (350 baht), walk 2.5km
December 23*
Kata-Karon Open Beach Run
Location: Karon Park, Karon Beach
Start time: 06:00
Route distances: 5km (400 baht entry fee), 10km (500 baht entry fee)
*Note that this run was previously scheduled for November 18. Also, for some reason, the event page lists this as happening in 2019, oops!
My wife did the Phukethon 10km in December 2017, I think we might both try to make it this year ….
Good luck!
Thanks for the list 🙂 One more big one to add to the list – Phukethon 2018 is from 9 – 11 November – http://www.phukethon.com/
Hi Jamie, thanks for that, I will add that…though a 42km run doesn’t sound very fun to me haha! (there’s a 10km though I see for us mere mortals). Are you joining any of these?