Kate Leeming

Kate Leeming (born 1967) is an Australian extreme endurance cyclist and explorer, known for several long-distance cycling expeditions. She has cycled more than twice around the world at the equator.

Background Leeming was raised in Northam, rural Western Australia, graduating from the University of Western Australia in the 1980s and qualifying as a teacher (Geography and Physical Education). She spent 12 years (1990–2002) in the UK and France, initially as a hockey player, then a fitness trainer before becoming a Real Tennis professional. During this time she cycled through Europe, from Spain to Turkey, and on to Nordkapp, Norway.

Leeming is divorced. , she lives in Melbourne, Australia and is a professional in real tennis at the Royal Melbourne Tennis Club.

Expeditions Leeming undertook the "Trans-Siberian Cycle Expedition" (with Greg Yeoman) in 1993, becoming the first woman to cycle across the new Russia unsupported, ending in Vladivostok on a bike that was suffering metal fatigue. The 13,400 km journey took 5 months and included long stretches following the Trans-Siberian railway in swampy conditions. Sponsorship was donated to support the children of Chernobyl. A prizewinning documentary awaits wide distribution and the book Njinga documents the journey.

In June 2019, she became the first person to cycle the entire Namibian coastline, 1,621 km largely on sand, crossing extensive dune fields as well as beaches. She began at the mouth of the Kunene River on the Angolan border, and traversed the Skeleton Coast heading south and the Namib Desert to the Orange River mouth on the South African border. She used an all-wheel drive bike with a pinion drive and clutch to the front wheel and oversized tyres. The first of several of these Christini bikes was built in Philadelphia in 2013. The expedition was captured in a documentary series, Diamonds In the Sand, shown on Outside TV, National Geographic Asia and CNBC.

Recent expeditions have included "The Andes, the Altiplano & the Atacama" (2020 and 2022, from Cusco, Peru across the Bolivian Altiplano and the Argentinian Puna de Atacama), "The Lights of Ladakh" which brought solar power to the most remote community in the Zanskar Range, the Indian Himalaya (film, 2018 ), along the course of the Finke River in central Australia, down the Baja Divide in Mexico and training in Svalbard, Northeast Greenland, Arctic Canada and Iceland for a proposed expedition across Antarctica. On 19 September 2023 she completed a trip from mainland Australia's most easterly point, Cape Byron, to its most westerly, Steep Point, covering 8,617 km.

On 16 August 2025, Kate completed her Breaking the Cycle Central Asia expedition, a 9001 km, 149-day journey through the heart of Central Asia. Her route followed the Syr Darya (Jaxartes River) from its source in the Tien Shan, Kyrgyzstan, to the Aral Sea, and then traced the course of the mighty Amu Darya (Oxus River), concluding with a geographical “first,” the discovery of its true source. Kate's team* named the glacial lake, a 100m x 150m permanent feature in the landscape, after their esteemed guide Malang Darya, the first Afghani to climb Afghanistan's highest peak, Mt Noshaq. Lake Malang lies at the head of the West tributary of Chelab Stream in the Little Pamir, Wakhan Corridor, Afghanistan.

The Oxus was the last major river in the world of which the ultimate source was unidentified. Discovering its true source solves a 3000-year mystery of Central Asia's greatest river. The importance of finding the true source had been heightened during the time of the Great Game (mid-1800s – early 1900s), when the British and Russian empires vied for control of Central Asia.

The team included Rupert McCowan (Geographer, Director of the Royal Geographical Society – Hong Kong), Malang Darya and filmmaker Adrian Dmoch. In 2007 an expedition led by Bill Colegrave had identified the Chelab stream as the source of the Oxus, but no one had since explored the Chelab's own source.

Sport Leeming was ranked number 2 in the world for Real Tennis, reaching the finals in women's doubles four times between 1997 and 2019. Spirit of Adventure, Australian Geographic Society Award winner (Australian Geographic Society, 2023) World Explorer, 2023 Medal of the Order of Australia, January 2023