Adventure athlete Emma Timmis is no stranger to endurance feats, having been the first woman to run the 1500 mile length of South Africa’s Freedom Trail – the equivalent of running 57 marathons in 57 days (!) She’s also cycled 2000km from Manchester to the Dolomites in Italy on a touring bike, and run 2452 miles across Africa. Right now, however, the 33-year-old is more than 5705km into her challenge to ride an ElliptiGO (a seat-less elliptical bike) 8000km across Australia, solo and self-supported. With only a quarter of her journey left, she’s already broken the distance record.

I caught up with Emma on the phone the day before she left for Australia to chat adventures (she’s had a few), endurance and ultra running.