Follow in the footsteps of Colonel Freddy Spencer Chapman with a duathlon through rainforest & sea

This year, YTL Hotels’ Pangkor Laut Resort invites guests to celebrate the 75-year anniversary of British Army officer Colonel Freddy Spencer Chapman escaping from Japanese occupied Malaya by taking part in Chapman’s Challenge. Commemorating the commando’s heroic escape, the annual duathlon sees participants follow in Colonel Chapman’s footsteps, running through the island’s two-million-year-old rainforest and swimming across Emerald Bay. The 2020 event, which is due to be held from 6-8th November, marks the fifth year of Chapman’s Challenge and 75 years since Chapman’s escape.

Colonel Spencer Chapman spent 3½ years in hiding from the occupying Japanese army during World War II in the wild jungles of Malaya. On 13th May 1945, he made his last escape from Emerald Bay at Pangkor Laut with his compatriot, Major R. Broome. They swam 45m out to sea in the dark of night to be rescued by the Royal Navy submarine, HMS Statesman.

Chapman’s Challenge comprises a 6.2km run around the private island’s roadways and through the two-million-year-old rainforest and a 1km swim out at Emerald Bay before concluding at Chapman’s Bar. Since the inaugural event in 2016, Pangkor Laut Resort has welcomed a growing number of participants, including professional athletes and fitness enthusiasts for the increasingly popular endurance feat. Those taking part can enjoy special rates on recovery treatments at the resort’s award-winning Spa Village and stand to win exciting prizes including stays at YTL Hotels’ global portfolio of luxury properties.

Registration for Chapman’s Challenge 2020 is now open online here through a special package starting from £628 including:

• Accommodation for two nights for two adults

• Daily breakfast, lunch and dinner for two adults

• Return scheduled speedboat transfers to and from Marina Island Pangkor

• Entry for The Chapman's Challenge 2020 on 7th November 2020, race day for two adults

• Personalised finisher t-shirt and goody bags for two adults

• Post-race refreshments at Chapman's Bar for each race participant

• Pre-dinner cocktails and beach barbecue dinner for two adults at Emerald Bay on 7th November 2020

• Kids' event on 7th November 2020 for children with a minimum age of 6

• Jungle Walk with the Resident Naturalist, subject to availability

Pangkor Laut is a one-of-a-kind private island resort nestled into its jungle habitat, offering beautifully appointed luxury accommodation high amidst the hills, within lush gardens or resting on stilts above the tropical waters. Set along the Straits of Malacca, three miles off the West Coast of Malaysia, only a fraction of the 300-acre island has been developed to house this peaceful luxury resort and its Estates.

Resting beneath the shade of forest giants as old as the land, this island is not only home to one of the world’s premier resorts and the exhilarating Chapman’s Challenge, but also to a variety of wildlife. Long-tailed macaques and oriental pied hornbills perch in the branches above while white-bellied sea eagles soar overhead and large monitor lizards sunbathe on the island’s rocky outcrops. Celebrity guests include Joan Collins, Sir Jackie Stewart, Nick Faldo and world-renowned tenor, the late Pavarotti, who fell in love with the island and declared it paradise.