Kate Leeming
Kate Leeming is an explorer and adventurer who has cycled a distance of more than two times around the world at the Equator. She is also a Real Tennis professional at the Royal Melbourne Tennis club who has won five Australian Open single titles in the sport.
But as Kate tells us as she talks with Rupert Guinness on Crossing the Line Radio, her life of adventure and sport not been all about the highs. As with many elite athletes, there have the lows as well; and in Kate’s case, from her battle with injuries and surgery, the hazards of riding in world re-known hot spots to the challenge of adapting back to life back at home after an expedition, and coping with depression.
But there is no stopping Kate in a life that is clearly a busy one. Her next expedition is a planned crossing of Antarctica via the South Pole next year, and hopes of becoming the first person to do so by bike.
However, central to Kate’s motivation is extending the impact of her Breaking the Cycle campaign, an education programme for students that, as she outlines in a promotional document, “aims to help prepare future leaders to make informed decisions to create a better world” through various forms of documentation of her experiences.
As the document continues to explain: “By following the journeys and engaging in the learning modules, students will create and perform their own activities and partake in curricula that is relevant to help prepare them to lead, in whatever field they choose.”
Her 2,800km Breaking the Cycle South Pole expedition follows a number of other ultra distance rides which as part of the campaign.
Major of her many rides undertaken – including preparatory rides in Australia, Iceland, Mexico and the Indian Himalayas – have been her:
- 1993 Trans-Siberian Cycle Expedition: 13,400km, St Petersburg to Vladivostok in aid of the children of Chernobyl.
- 2004/2005 Great Australian Cycle Expedition: 25,000km through Australia, including 7,000km on remote desert tracks, one of them being the Canning Stock Route. This was an official activity for the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development
- 2010 Breaking the Cycle in Africa: 22,000km from Senegal to Somalia that explored the causes and effects of extreme poverty. This expedition was also a UNDESD authorised activity.
Kate has also authored two books – Out There and Back about her 2004/2005 Australian adventure; and NJINGA about her 2010 African experiences from which she also co-produced an award winning feature documentary and an as yet-to-be released television series.
If you feel like learning more first hand about how Kate operates on an expedition or what she thinks of her experiences, you can travel with her in 2019 on her ride for World Expeditions next August. For more information on this, go to
https://worldexpeditions.com/india/cycling-mountain-biking/the-ladakh-cycling-epic-with-kate-leeming
For more information about Kate, go to her website on: www.kateleeming.com
Read more about or support her campaign, Breaking the Cycle
