The course is very flat and split between running in the city around the old city moat , then out on to the motorway for about 10-12 km , then back in to the city again , where it finishes where it began at Thapae Gate.
Not a great deal of support , but that is to be expected as the race is run at 05:00 in the morning.
Main bugbear for me was that on both occasions that I have ran this race , the distance has been 22.50km and not 21.1km as stated , so any thoughts of doing a PB here are slim to none.
I mentioned to the race organizers the distance discrepancy last year , the night before this Years race and was assured that it had been rectified for this Years event , but it wasn't , so was not best pleased, to say the least after the effort made to get a good time

I ran this in 2011 on Christmas Day. I was already going to Chiang Mai for a holiday and when I found out there was going to be a marathon taking place during my stay I signed up straight away. The course is nice and flat it takes you out of the city centre and then back again, but can be lonely in places and the later runners will have to contend with oncoming traffic. It's nice running back into the bustling city centre. There are no hills or inclines to speak of and the course definitely has pb potential. The race starts early at either 4:30 or 5:30 in the morning which means that there are no crowds to begin with although there are some people who have been out all night and are now making their way home to cheer you on. As the sun rises and the moring arrives the crowds begin to appear. Organisation was fine I applied online and then picked my race number up at the expo without any problems. The expo is small but adequate. All in all this is a good, well organised race.