19-year-old Danielle Foot (#335) has won the ‘Kay Wharton Fastest Female Category’ at the 2019 Tatts Finke Desert Race.
The category – honouring former Race Doctor and five-time Finke finisher, Kay Wharton – aims to acknowledge the enormous contribution women make to the Tatts Finke Desert Race, and awards the top three female finishers across all bike classes this year.
Foot, hailing from Moriac in Victoria, was crowned the winner of the award at the Official Presentation Night following the race on Monday, along with receiving an award for finishing third in the Class 3 – up to 250CC two-stroke.
“I’m super pumped for my results at the 2019 Tatts Finke Desert Race – my Sherco 250 two-stroke factory edition didn’t miss a beat all weekend and brought me home for another year,” Foot exclaimed.
“It’s awesome to get on the box for Class 3 and to also be the first female home.
“Our aim was top 50 which we just fell short of but I’m over the moon to be home in one piece.”
First attempting the race at only 16-years-old, this was Foot’s fourth campaign of Australia’s toughest off-road race and she redeemed herself after a DNF in 2018 to post a personal best time of 5 hours, 41 minutes and 43.5 seconds.
Finishing outright 57th out of 622 registered competitors in the bike category, Foot has confirmed she will be returning to defend her title in 2020.
“I am already planning for next year, we will definitely be back to crack the top 50 and retain the honour of fastest female!”
Bronwyn Aplin (#181 KTM 300 – Coleambally, NSW) and Kellie Catanese (#677 Husqvarna FE- Princes Hill, VIC) were second and third respectively.
The 2019 Tatts Finke Desert Race was held in Alice Springs on the Queen’s Birthday weekend from 6-10 June 2019.
