Borneo 100 Triathlon pulls int’l crowd

LUNDU, 21 June 2026 - Athletes entered the waters of the South China Sea in the early hours this morning as the inaugural Borneo 100 Triathlon began at Sematan Palm Beach Resort, located roughly an hour and a half from Kuching City.

Billed as the largest triathlon ever staged in the State, the event has drawn hundreds of competitors from Sarawak, across Malaysia and abroad, with international entrants travelling from Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Japan, Germany, the Philippines, China, Russia and Italy.

Bike check-in opened at 6am, with the transition area closing at 7.30am. A rolling start for the Sprint, Olympic Distance and Relay categories followed at 7.45am, with the Aquathlon and the flagship Borneo 100 category setting off at 8am.

Family members and friends gathered along the beachfront in the early hours to cheer the athletes on, with many staying on through the morning to follow competitors from the swim exit through to the transition area.

Competitors began with an open-water swim off Sematan’sbeachfront, organised as a clockwise, inverted-triangle course. The swim leg proved gruelling for many in the field, with several athletes visibly fatigued as they emerged from the water, though competitors pressed on regardless into the bike and run legs that followed. From there, athletes who had chosen the cycling categories headed out along the coast road towards Telok Melano before returning to the resort for the run leg along Sematan’s beachfront.

The event concludes at 4.30pm, the cut-off time for Borneo100 athletes, who are given up to eight hours to complete the full course.

The event offered four formats to suit a range of experience levels:

• Standard Aquathlon – 1.5km swim, 10km run

• Sprint Triathlon – 750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run

• Olympic Distance (individual or team relay) – 1.5kmswim, 40km bike, 10km run

• Borneo100, the marquee distance – 1.5km swim, 80kmbike, 18.5km run

The race was organised by Kelab Triatlon Kuching Selatan together with Grit Event Management, and is sanctioned by the Malaysia Triathlon Association. Timing was handled by the same officials who worked the 2025 SEA Games.

Speaking ahead of the race, race director Eric Tay said the event represented the first world-class standard triathlon to be held in Sarawak, adding that it would give local athletes the chance to experience professionally managed racing without travelling overseas, while offering visiting triathletes a course format they would find familiar from international events.