Kate Leeming: the long rides, and the South Pole one still to come

Who she is

Kate Leeming is a Western Australian expedition cyclist, author and real tennis professional. She grew up on a wheat and sheep farm near Northam, studied physical education at UWA, and now lives in Melbourne.

Her own site says she spent 11 years living in the UK and France and that her first long trip, in the early 1990s, was about 15,000 km around Europe, as far north as Nordkapp in Norway (PhillyVoice dates her first European rides to the late 1980s). UWA says a 1993 meeting with the polar explorer Robert Swan convinced her to use adventure to make a difference. Between expeditions she works as a real tennis professional at the Royal Melbourne Tennis Club. Her site lists five Australian Open singles titles and a career-high ranking of world No. 2.

• Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the 2023 Australia Day Honours, for service to adventure sports.
• Spirit of Adventure award at the 2023 Australian Geographic Society Awards.
• Honorary Doctor of Education from the University of Western Australia, 2016. That's why she is often styled Dr Kate Leeming.
• Her site also lists her as a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (UK) and a member of The Explorers Club (New York).

The big rides

Five long expeditions, from St Petersburg in 1993 to the Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan in 2025, with a run of shorter training rides in between.

• Russia, 1993. Five Russian cyclists joined for sections. Her site calls it the first unsupported crossing of the "new" Russia by a woman, and it included a 1,500 km stretch of swamp in eastern Siberia. PhillyVoice gave the distance as 8,326 miles, which matches.
• Australia, 2004–05. The route took in the Cape York Peninsula Development Road, the Gulf Track, the Tanami Track, the Gunbarrel Highway and the 1,800 km Canning Stock Route. Her site says she was the first woman to cycle the Canning, and that she rode the second half of the trip alone.
• Africa, 2010. She crossed the Sahara and Sahel, then a 135 km no-man's-land between Somaliland and Puntland with a Puntland security escort. Her site says the ride is believed to be a world first; UWA describes it as the first bicycle crossing of Africa in a continuous line.
• Australia, 2021 and 2023. The WA end of the route ran from the Canning Stock Route country through Jigalong, Newman and Mount Augustus to Shark Bay and Steep Point, mainland Australia's most westerly point. She was retracing parts of the route of her great-great uncle William Snell, who her site says reconditioned two-thirds of the Canning Stock Route in 1929. The route was first planned at 7,500 km; the finished ride was 8,617 km.
• Central Asia, 2025. The team followed the Syr Darya from the Tien Shan to the Aral Sea, then the Amu Darya (the Oxus) up into the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan.

The training rides

To prepare for Antarctica she rode in Svalbard, Northeast Greenland, Arctic Canada and Iceland. Then, from 2018, she set out to do a preparatory ride on every continent: the Baja Divide in Mexico, the Finke River (Larapinta) in central Australia, the Indian Himalaya, Namibia's whole coastline (1,621 km, mostly on sand, in June 2019), the Andes, the Altiplano and the Atacama, and finally Queen Maud Land in Antarctica in 2023. Her site counts that as all seven continents.

Antarctica: the ride still to come

Her goal is the first bicycle crossing of Antarctica, coast to coast via the South Pole. It hasn't happened yet: as at 9 October 2026 her site lists it for the 2026/27 season. Her only ride in Antarctica so far is 201 km in Queen Maud Land in February 2023.

The bike built in Philadelphia

The crossing needed a bike that didn't exist. Christini, a Philadelphia company that had spent recent years making motorcycles, built her a custom all-wheel-drive fat bike in 2013, according to Bicycle Retailer. The drive runs through the frame to the front wheel as well as the back, so both tyres push in soft snow.

PhillyVoice reported on 1 November 2016 that the bike was developed and built in a converted firehouse on North Second Street in Northern Liberties, and that a Maine custom-bike builder, Davis Carver, had pointed her to Christini. A Kickstarter campaign offered the bike to the public for US$4,995 and aimed to raise US$40,000 towards an expedition PhillyVoice said would cost more than half a million dollars. Bicycle Retailer reported nearly US$8,500 pledged with 13 days to go. We couldn't confirm how the campaign finished.

Training on the ice

In May 2016 she took the second-generation bike to Northeast Greenland. ExplorersWeb reported that she sat out an eight-day storm before starting, then had seven days on a shortened route over snow softer than she expected in Antarctica. road.cc put the ride at about 400 km.

Queen Maud Land, February 2023

On 4 February 2023 she wrote that she'd fly to Antarctica on Monday 6 February. The plan was about 350 km over eight days, from White Desert's Wolf's Fang Camp down to its Whichaway Camp, and back again if time and resources allowed. Her expedition page records a supported 201 km over five days, from Wolf's Fang (1,130 m) to Whichaway (100 m). She pushed or walked about 10 km on ice and through a crevasse field in crampons, and about 10 km more in soft snow and poor visibility, and was towed through the worst crevasse fields behind a support vehicle. She described it as "on the edge of what I can do". Her site calls it a world-first cycle expedition; we haven't seen that checked independently.

Her 24-minute film of the ride, Journey Across Queen Maud Land on a Bike, was selected for the 2026 Women's Adventure Film Tour.

A date and a distance that keep moving

The crossing has been the next big ride since at least 2015, and the published route length has grown as the plan has changed. Talking about crevasses and storms in 2015, she told road.cc, "I'm a risk mitigator." Here's what each source said at the time:

1. June 2015 UWA: about 1,850 km in about 45 days, at the end of 2015. road.cc (July 2015) said about 1,800 km, later that year.
2. June 2016 ExplorersWeb: planned for the end of 2016.
3. November 2016 PhillyVoice: nearly 1,200 miles (about 1,930 km) in about 45 days, with no firm timetable.
4. Undated, still online Her South Pole page: a preferred route of 2,800 km in 62 days, McMurdo Sound to the Pole to Hercules Inlet, starting from mid-November 2020.
5. January 2023 UWA: planned for the end of 2023.
6. January 2024 Her executive summary: McMurdo to the Pole to Gould's Bay, 3,000 km in about 70 days, with logistics by Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions and Arctic Trucks.
7. October 2026 Her About page: 2026/27.

What the rides were for

Each big ride has carried a cause, from Chernobyl's children in 1993 to safe water in 2025. PhillyVoice put it simply in 2016: the trips are personal exploration that also draw attention to problems in remote parts of the world.

• 1993, Russia: to aid the children affected by the Chernobyl disaster. She visited Belarus afterwards.
• 2004–05, Australia: to promote education for sustainable development. Her site says it was chosen as a demonstration activity for the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005–14).
• 2010, Africa: to learn what gives communities in war-torn and poor countries a leg up rather than a handout, with a focus on girls' education.
• Antarctica (planned): in 2015, UWA said proceeds would go to the Global Fund's HIV programs, and road.cc reported a A$80,000 crowdfunding target to fight AIDS in Africa. Her site now ties the crossing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, her Breaking the Cycle Foundation and a school education program, and calls it carbon-positive through projects with Regenerate Australia in the WA Wheatbelt.
• 2021 and 2023, Australia: lessons for schools through the education platform Belouga, and time with Martu people at Parnngurr and Karlamilyi National Park.
• 2025, Central Asia: a fundraiser for Water.org, and the story of the shrinking Aral Sea.

Books and films

Two books, an award-winning documentary, a TV series and several short films, most of them sold or listed on her website.

• Out There and Back (book, 2007): the story of the 25,000 km Great Australian Cycle Expedition, with the 1993 Russia ride in its opening chapters.
• Njinga (book and documentary, 2014): the Africa ride. Her site explains that njinga is a Zambian word for bicycle, and that the film won best documentary and best cinematography awards at the Action on Film International Film Festival in Los Angeles.
• Diamonds in the Sand (TV series, 2021): the 2019 Namibia ride. Her site lists broadcasters National Geographic Asia, CNBC and Outside TV, and claims more than 25 million viewers.
• The Lights of Ladakh (documentary): her 2018 Indian Himalaya ride, streaming on Adventure Plus. Her 2024 summary dates the film 2021.
• Kate & Larapinta (short film): Brian Cohen's film of her 2018 Finke River ride, which her site said in March 2026 is on SBS On Demand.
• Journey Across Queen Maud Land on a Bike (24-minute film, 2026 Women's Adventure Film Tour).

We couldn't confirm either book's publisher from a primary source. Both are sold through her website.

What she's doing now

Since finishing in Central Asia in August 2025, she has published a claim to have found the true source of the Oxus, toured her Antarctic film, and still lists the South Pole crossing for 2026/27.

• The source of the Oxus. On 15 and 16 August 2025, at the end of the Central Asia ride, she trekked with co-leader Rupert McCowan of the Royal Geographical Society – Hong Kong, guide Malang Darya and filmmaker Adrian Dmoch to the head of the Chelab stream in Afghanistan's Little Pamir. A 2007 expedition led by Bill Colegrave had already named the Chelab as the Oxus's source; this team went to the Chelab's own source, a glacial lake at 4,951 m they named Lake Malang. Leeming and McCowan set out the case in the March 2026 issue of Asian Affairs, the journal of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, and UWA announced it on 9 March 2026. This is the team's published finding; we haven't seen other geographers respond to it yet.
• Film tour. Her Queen Maud Land film was programmed for the Women's Adventure Film Tour's 27 Australian screenings in September and October 2026, including Melbourne on 10 September and Perth on 17 September.
• The South Pole. Her About page lists the crossing for 2026/27. As at 9 October 2026 we haven't seen a start date or a public announcement that it is under way.

We'd love to hear from Kate about where she's riding now. If we talk to her, we'll add it here, with the date.

Sources

1. Breaking the Cycle (Kate Leeming's site): About Kate; Trans-Siberian Cycle Expedition; Great Australian Cycle Expedition; Breaking the Cycle in Africa; Across Australia; Central Asia; expedition overview; Njinga.
2. Breaking the Cycle, Antarctica: Breaking the Cycle South Pole; executive summary (January 2024, PDF); Breaking the Cycle Antarctica; Preparing for Queen Maud Land (4 February 2023); Journey Across Queen Maud Land on a Bike (28 August 2026).
3. Breaking the Cycle: Stop press: the source of the Oxus; Kate & Larapinta on SBS (9 March 2026).
4. Brian Hickey, Bicycle built in Philly to make historic trip across Antarctica, PhillyVoice, 1 November 2016.
5. Bicycle Retailer and Industry News, Christini launches two-wheel-drive fat bike for Antarctic trip, 7 November 2016.
6. road.cc: Australian woman attempts to become first person to cycle across the Antarctic, 1 July 2015; Laura Laker, Woman prepares for Antarctica cycling record, 16 May 2016.
7. ExplorersWeb, South Pole cycle training: Kate Leeming on Greenland, 2 June 2016.
8. University of Western Australia: UWA graduate to cycle across Antarctica, 11 June 2015; WA-born cyclist and adventurer honoured on eve of next expedition, 27 January 2023; Awards and achievements, 3 November 2023; Explorers solve 3,000-year mystery of source of central Asia's greatest river, 9 March 2026.