NEED TO KNOW
- Ultramarathon runner Sia, 44, is one of 10 contestants competing in Season 4 of SBS’s Alone Australia, filmed in the Arctic reaches of Sápmi, Finland.
- She expected loneliness to be her biggest challenge – but it turned out to be something else entirely.
- Sia discovered her love of long-distance running by accident at just 13 years old
- Now a Melbourne mum of two teenage girls, Sia opens up about their reaction to her taking on the brutal challenge.
The mere thought of being isolated in the middle of the Arctic Circle is enough to send chills down most people’s spines.
But for ultramarathon runner Sia, it was an exciting challenge she just couldn’t say no to!
Sia, 44, is one of 10 contestants taking part in Season 4 of SBS’s survivalist show Alone Australia, which premieres this week.
Initially, Sia thought loneliness would prove the greatest obstacle to overcome as she navigated this season’s beautiful but freezing Arctic location in the northernmost areas of Sápmi, Finland.
“I thought I was quite an extroverted person, but when I was on the land, I was surprised by how much peace I found and how comfortable I was being out there on my own,” Sia tells New Idea.
Instead, it was her background as an ultramarathon runner that proved to be the biggest hurdle – much to Sia’s surprise!
Ultramarathons cover more distance than a standard 42km marathon, so “I’m constantly moving,” Sia explains.
“I’m training sometimes twice a day. I found that being able to be still and just focus on the surviving part first, instead of going out and having fun and exploring, was really hard.”
“I definitely felt that there was a little piece within me that wanted to push me to go out and go for a run, but I had to squish that. It was eating me from the inside because I really wanted to go explore. But I just knew it was a completely different challenge … it was about being still and surviving.”
Sia got into ultramarathons after discovering her love for long-distance running by accident at the age of 13.
“One day on my way home, instead of turning right, I decided to go straight and run around a lake. I didn’t realise it was going to take me 11 hours!” she reveals, adding that she was “so proud” of herself.
Growing up with little in Northeast Thailand, Sia says she often “went to bed without food”.
But “whether you have money or not, you can still run,” she says pragmatically.
Sia’s mother then met a Swedish man and their family moved there, where she completed her education.
At 23, she decided to travel to Australia and immediately “fell in love”.
Now living in Melbourne with her two teenage daughters, Sia has long been a fan of Alone.
“Every time I watched the show, I thought to myself, ‘Wouldn’t that be nice to be out there where no one can reach me or want something from me?’” she says.
Although Sia has plenty of experience surviving in the great outdoors via her ultramarathons, she confesses her girls were still worried about her doing Alone.
But at the same time, they were very proud of her.
“I don’t think they really understand what it means for them. It’s just mum doing stuff,” she says.
Alone Australia premieres on 15 July on SBS and SBS On Demand.
