The story
Elephant Festival Mini Marathon in Sayabouly
This roughly 10-kilometer mini-marathon opens the annual Xayaboury Elephant Festival (Boun Xang) each February, sending runners through the provincial capital hours before the week's elephant parades, rides, and ceremonies begin. It functions as a sport-and-tourism add-on to a much larger cultural event centered on Xayabouly's elephants, and has become a fixture of the festival's opening-day schedule alongside spirit-notifying rituals and early elephant rides.
Each February, on the opening morning of the Xayaboury Elephant Festival, Boun Xang, a mini-marathon sends local runners and visiting enthusiasts along a roughly 10-kilometer course through Xayabouly, the provincial capital and one of the last strongholds of domesticated elephants in Laos.