Show Notes

Sébastien Bertrand is the owner of Thailand Mountain Trail, which runs trail running (and hiking) trips from Chiang Mai. We spent a few days with him in January 2019 for a story in Silkwinds magazine, which you can read online here.

In our interview with Seb we discuss:

• Maxi Race Annecy (4:20)

• Janet Ng (HK 100 Race Director) and Jeri Chua (interviewed in Episode 3 of the podcast) (10:40)

• Hong Kong’s MacLehose Trail (21:20)

• Ultra Thai Chiang Mai, which sadly didn’t go ahead (26:30)

• Chiang Dao mountains (30:00)

• Ultra-Trail World Tour (31:15)

• Europe’s GR footpaths (39:35)

• Explorer Mike Horn (01:04:30)

• Best kit (01:11:00): Brooks Cascadia, Salomon XA Pro, Ultimate Direction hydration packs, including the Fastpack 15

Towards the end (01:19:30), we cover the following races:

• Hardcore Hundred Miles in the Philippines

• Adventure Trail Challenge in Singapore

• The Dragon’s Back in Wales

• The Most Beautiful Thing (TMBT) in Malaysia

Although Seb’s own race didn’t go ahead, there are now plenty of races in and around Chiang Mai, including:

• CM6 (August)

• Ultra-Trail Chiang Mai (August)

• Pong Yaeng Trail (November)

A good place to find out what’s happening is Basecamp Coffee at the foot of the Pilgrim’s Trail up Doi Suthep, which has fast become the go-to meet-up spot for the local trail running scene.

Podcast hosted by Ultra Endurance enthusiasts Scott Pugh and Ric Stockfis.