Adventurer Maria Leijerstam’s world-first achievement for Britain has landed her in the Guinness Book of World Records.
Maria, 35, from the Vale of Glamorgan, pedalled 650 kilometres across the icy wilderness of Antarctica last Christmas to claim the title of the first person in the world to cycle to the South Pole from the edge of the continent – a mission she completed ahead of an American and Spanish rival last December.
Conceptualised by Maria and her team, a unique polar cycle was then designed and manufactured by Cornish firm Inspired Cycle Engineering, and since her success their sales have rocketed.
In the same week, the University of Plymouth – where Maria gained a Pure Mathematics degree in 2000 – has awarded her Honorary Sporting Colours for Distinction in Sporting Activities, which she will be collecting in late September.
Maria has managed to carve out an incredible career path around her adventures. She began her career as a rocket scientist, and later as a Business Improvement Director for well-known multi-national organisations around the world. In 2010 she founded Multisport Limited and the popular Burn Series of family adventure days, as a way of combining her love of sport and adventure with business acumen.
In 2007 she became the first Welsh woman to complete the world-renowned Sahara Marathon, where she battled against extreme high temperatures to run six marathons in seven days. At the other end of the temperature scale, in 2012 she became the first woman to complete the Siberian Black Ice Race cycling across Lake Baikal, the longest and deepest frozen freshwater lake in the world.
Maria continues to work every day to raise money for her chosen charity, the Alzheimer’s Society. She shares her story of determination through lectures and talks with the world to help engage and inspire the youth of today, as well as established business people who like to hear about the courage and determination it took to achieve her goal.
Although Britain was unable to secure the world-first record of reaching the South Pole in the great polar days of the battle between Captain Robert Falcon Scott and Roald Amundsen, Great Britain has now claimed a world-first for cycling to the South Pole from the edge of the Antarctic continent.
