Tobi Hlavnicka, one of the owners of Aquasource Drilling, and Caralina Carlson, Principal Architect at LPW Architecture, participated in the 2023 Rebelle Rally in October. Rebelle Rally is the first women’s only off-road navigation rally which goes on for 10 days, with 8 scored competition days.
Each day, you drive for about 10 hours in the point-based rally with different levels of checkpoints. Teams locate checkpoints in off-road terrain using only maps and compasses. All checkpoints are scored when competitors send a GPS signal from their location. Competitors sleep in tents during the event and cannot access their cell phones for the duration of the 8 scored competition days. The 2023 Rebelle Rally covered over 2,120 kilometers, went through both California and Nevada and had the hardest navigation challenges to date.
There are two different classes for the rally, four-wheel drive, and crossover class. Tobi and Cara competed in the 4×4 class in a 2023 Ford Bronco with Tobi as the driver and Cara as the navigator. The ladies found it an amazing challenge going off-grid, being self-sufficient, in the middle of nowhere.
As rookies, Tobi & Cara, successfully finished the 2023 Rebelle Rally 16th out of 65 teams and managed to podium as 3rd Place Rookie of the Year out of 27 rookie teams. “It was quite a crazy competition this year,” explained Cara. “We all were separated by one single point between 3rd, 2nd, and 1st place.”
“It was fun,” explained Tobi. “It was quite an experience. Every day was full of different challenges and adventures. They have EV vehicles, so they have a whole EV charging station there, tents for you to eat, and a whole cooking area.”
Training for this event can be just as simple as going into the mountains and off-roading and practicing recovery and basics. Tobi and Cara consider themselves lucky enough to live in Montana where they can train in the wide-open space.
“Getting adjusted back to reality after being completely off the grid for 10 days was a little bit of a challenge,” explained Cara. “It took me a few days to stop thinking about checkpoints and everything that happened. But it was really fun, and we’re committing to do it again this year.”
Tobi and Cara had some local companies sponsor them to help them get to the rally and hope to find sponsors to assist them in returning in October of 2024.
To find out more about Tobi and Cara and their journey, you can find them on Instagram @bronco_rex406, and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TeamRexBronco.
Author: Karen Anderson
Karen is the Editor-in-Chief overseeing all news operations at Foxys Publishing Co. She also loves photography and spending time with her dogs.
