From now the Queen of the Desert dwells by the lakes.
Such is the life of prominent Kialla motorbike competitor Madi Healey, who conquered all before her to claim the official Priscilla-inspired title following a competition in the Northern Territory.
The gruelling Finke Desert Race was on the menu for two furious days of action across 225km of track between Alice Springs and Aputula, the furthest-inland populated dwelling in Australia, once known as Finke.
The 19-year-old local embarked on her first attempt at the arduous outback competition, suiting up as one of only two Victorian representatives in the 19-strong women’s field.
Following the first day, through the usual midday heat throughout the Northern Territory, Healey was first in the women’s class with a three-minute gap to nearest rival Dani Foot.
However, Foot crashed out and left a sizeable buffer for Healey to work with on the much tougher return leg to Alice Springs, where her GasGas #922 machine was an easy number one on the ride north.
Finishing a comfortable first outright in the women’s class, Healey claimed 54th on the overall classification following an impressive showing in the nation’s most challenging motorcycle race.
She was certainly relieved about it all as well, given the challenges.
“The buggies and some other bikes all went before us, so the terrain gets rough and then rougher again,” Healey said.
“The track gets prepped once a year, but you’re allowed to train on it all year long, so it’s brutal.
“It changes, becoming very rocky and making it a different sort of race.
“Finishing 54th outright with all the boys was pretty cool and so was getting crowned Queen of the Desert.”
Having gone up a month prior to competition for testing and preparations, a totally different set of track conditions greeted Healey on race day.
Having already overcome such adversity to take honours on her first attempt, she’s not afraid to take on the challenge again in a year’s time.
“I’ll definitely be back for next year, that’s for sure,” Healey said.
“Hopefully, I’ll do a little bit of testing and spend more time up there so I know the track inside out.
“To be able to win the race without doing the whole track before was cool since I didn’t have much knowledge.”