Challenge Malaysia, live.

A middle distance with the wetsuit left at home

Challenge Malaysia is a middle-distance triathlon in Forest City, Johor, on Sunday 18 October 2026, on the Malaysian side of the second link to Singapore.

The flagship race covers 1.9 km of swimming, 90 km of cycling and 21 km of running, 112.9 km in all. The swim starts off the main beach, beside a children’s water park, in water the organiser puts at around 28°C on average, warm enough that it tells athletes they can leave the wetsuit at home. The bike course is several laps of smooth, fast road past city blocks, sea views and mangrove, and the run is a half marathon through the streets of Forest City, finishing at the beachfront race hub.

The organiser calls it a fast, flat course in a sheltered setting, and the venue keeps everything close: swim start and exit, finish and hub sit together by the water park, and the race village has hotels, a golf resort and apartments on site. Forest City lies less than an hour’s drive from Johor Bahru airport and under an hour and a half by road from Singapore, next to the Tuas Second Link bridge. A sprint distance and Junior Challenge races are held around the main event.

A lap course is good for spectators and hard to read: the athlete passes the same corner several times and it is not obvious which lap they are on. On Livebib the athlete shares a link to their own broadcast, and family and friends open it in a browser, with no account and no app. They see the position on the course line, the distance covered and a finish estimate that updates as the race goes. Anything estimated is marked as estimated, and the athlete decides who gets the link.