Now the Mt Isa local and mum-of-two is living her dream and yesterday flew to Alice Springs to be one of eight grid girl ambassadors selected from a sea of hundreds around the country. 

As well as looking after her two young sons, Steed operates a beauty business and also works at Coles. 

She said her interest in becoming a Finke grid girl stemmed from her love of the event. 

“My husband has previously raced in the Finke before, he injured himself in the past,” she said. 

“We have an interest in motorbikes and so we’ve also just gone there to watch it, and I always wanted to be part of it.” 

It’s a big step up for Steed, who has competed before in local bikini competitions but has never done something on this scale. 

The decision to apply was easy.

“They held an Australia-wide online competition, you had to submit photo entires and an online form which asked a lot of questions about your involvement in the community, in the Finke race, and about yourself,” she said. 

“It took them a few months to come back with a shortlist where they got down to 30, and I was one of the lucky ones when they picked their eight.

“It was amazing – I had dreamt about being a Finke Desert Race grid girl, I saw it and I wanted to do it,” she said.

“When I found out I was going to be one, it was like fulfilling a little mini dream of mine.”

The race is an off-road, all-terrain, two-day race for bikes, buggies, quads and cards through the Alice Springs desert country, finishing in the Aputula community. 

The race is one of the biggest annual Northern Territory sporting events. 

Steed said she loved being involved to support the small communities of Alice Springs and Aputula, which she said were not unlike Mt Isa in many ways. 

“I’m just excited to be involved in the race and to have the chance to do this,” she said.