IRONMAN and IRONKIDS are back 20 & 21 Nov 2026, new venue, new beach, new route
IRONKIDS and the swim leg of IRONMAN Malaysia both move to Holiday Villa Resort & Beachclub on Pantai Tengah this year, away from Pelangi and Pantai Kok. The bike-to-run changeover at MIEC and the Pelangi finish stay as they are.
IRONKIDS Langkawi will be held at Holiday Villa Resort & Beachclub on Pantai Tengah on Friday, 20 November, with IRONMAN Malaysia and IRONMAN 70.3 Langkawi following on Saturday, 21 November. It is a change of venue for the children’s aquathlon, which has been held at Pelangi Beach Resort and Spa.
The 2026 course map on the race website puts the aquathlon swim start on the beach in front of the resort, with a transition area beside it and the finish under the official IRONMAN Finishers Arch at the resort. The aquathlon has two categories: ages 7 to 10 swim 100m and run 1km, and ages 11 to 15 swim 200m and run 2km. The community run, without the swim, is 1km for ages 0 to 6 with a parent or guardian, 1km for ages 7 to 10, and 2km for ages 11 to 17. The run loop goes through the lanes behind Holiday Villa, past DASH Resort and Aloft by Marriott.
The bigger change is the swim. IRONMAN Malaysia’s 3.8km swim and IRONMAN 70.3 Langkawi’s 1.9km swim will both start from the same beach at Pantai Tengah, off Holiday Villa. In past years the swim started from the public beach at Pantai Kok beside The Danna Langkawi, in the sheltered water off Telaga Harbour.
According to the race website, the start is a rolling start, with athletes crossing a timing mat on the beach and entering the water four or five at a time. The swim is non-wetsuit, with water temperature hovering around 28°C. From the water, athletes run about 200 metres to T1, which sits inside the Holiday Villa grounds, where the bikes are parked.
The bike course has been redrawn to suit the new start, which sits well away from the old one at Pantai Kok. This year, cyclists head out from Holiday Villa past Aloft and DASH, then turn onto the new Geopark Ocean Drive before continuing through the rest of the island. The route still loops back through the kampungs, with aid stations along the way run by local communities. The full race’s 180.7km bike is two loops with 1,268 metres of climbing; the 70.3’s 89.5km is a single loop with 757 metres. The bike-to-run changeover stays at the Mahsuri International Exhibition Centre (MIEC) beside the airport.
The 42.2km run is two flat laps that leave MIEC, follow the side of the Langkawi International Airport runway and come back along the Cenang Beach front, finishing on the beach at Pelangi Beach Resort and Spa. IRONKIDS is an aquathlon, so the children swim and run but do not cycle.
For Holiday Villa, the weekend now carries more than any single venue did before: IRONKIDS on the Friday, then the swim start and the first changeover on the Saturday. IRONMAN Malaysia and IRONMAN 70.3 Langkawi are both on Saturday, 21 November, run by the organiser.
If you are racing or cheering, tell us where you will be watching from.