Eight days. 68 Teams. Over 1,500 miles. One epic race across the desert.
We’re talking about the Rebelle Rally, of course. The annual all-female off-road navigational rally across the Nevada and California desert recently wrapped up its 2024 run — with 13 teams competing in a Bronco, Bronco Sport, or Bronco Raptor. And of those Ford Performance/Bronco teams —five of them finished in the top 10. One of those teams included Bronco Nation’s own Melissa Clark. She and her teammate, Kathryn Reinhardt, drove a 2025 Bronco Sport Badlands with Sasquatch Package, and placed a very close second in the X-Cross class.
This was Melissa’s ninth time competing in this race, and 4th consecutive time in a Bronco Sport. Now that she’s had some time to get settled after the action, we thought we’d find out first-hand from her about what makes this competition special, what it’s like navigating without GPS technology, how that new Bronco Sport handled the course, and more.
Photo Credit: Tim Sutton
OK Melissa – first off – Congrats on completing another Rebelle Rally. You made the Bronco Nation proud, and it was exciting to follow your journey over the eight days. Thank you. I want to thank everyone who watched and supported me and the other Bronco teams. It's great to have a woman's sport that has such a solid following and I'm beyond grateful for the opportunity to drive for Ford Performance.
This was your ninth Rebelle Rally. NINTH! What made you get started? When the competition was first advertised in 2016, I knew I had to participate. I had already investigated an international event called the Gazelle Rally, but the cost was beyond my ability. So when this one was happening in the U.S., I was the 4th team to register.
How have you/your skills changed since that first race? Considering I had only rudimentary skills in reading a map and had never properly used a compass, I’ve come a long way. For the first three rallies, I was solely the navigator — so the skills to be successful in this format developed as the competition did.
What is your favorite part of doing this race…what keeps you coming back? I love being more accurate than a GPS. Some of the checkpoints do not have any physical markers, so you have to use different techniques to insure you’re in the right place before activating your tracker: triangulation, reading topography, dead reckoning, and accurate measurements. When we score a bullseye and discover we only missed the target by a couple of meters, it’s addicting.
Photo Credit: Paolo Araldi
Photo Credit: Regine Trias
ABOUT THE RACE
Do you need to be an expert off-road driver to enter the race? It’s not a race for speed, but more about time management. Having some off-road driving experience is important — but there are courses you can take through Rebelle University that will give you the basic skills to be able to compete. Sand driving is a needed skill.
Is it the same course each year? The courses vary, as well as the location of the checkpoints, but we come back to many of the same places year after year. It’s a plus to have experience in areas like Johnson Valley and the Imperial Sand Dunes, which we come to almost every year.
GPS and phones are not allowed to help guide you during the race. So what materials can you use to navigate? The needed materials are a high accuracy compass, map rulers, and a plotter. A great item to have is an aftermarket odometer to travel precise distances, examples are ICO or Terratrip. The maps are provided by the Rally.
Are teams provided the same basic tools from race officials (to ensure you all start on the same level), or do you bring your own? No, they recommend certain brands, but we are responsible for our own tools allowable within the rules.
What is the most valuable tool to help you navigate? Your brain, which requires rest, hydration, and nutrition. Many mistakes happen because teams are tired or dehydrated and don’t think through their actions.
I know you are off-the-grid during the race, are you able to contact your families on breaks at all? You are allowed a 5-minute call per evening using a monitored phone provided by the Rally. I’ve never used it though. Family and the Rally have an emergency number to contact if there’s a problem.
RACE PREP/RACE ESSENTIALS
- What do you do to prepare for the Rebelle? Do you practice? Absolutely. We prep individually and get together for trainings a few times per year. The trainings try to simulate Rally format, so we are hunting checkpoints and then use an app like Gaia or OnX to confirm our location.
- How did you and Kathryn join forces? Kathryn was a navigator in the 4 Wheel Parts Bronco in 2021 and 2022, and I got a chance to get to know her on Rally and in training. We had discussed teaming up in 2023, but she decided to take a year off. This year, she was ready.
- How do you and your teammate determine who handles what during the race? (one more comfortable behind the wheel/one better at reading the maps, etc.) Hopefully this shakes out during training and should be a critical part of the partnership discussion. At this point, I’m primarily a driver. Although I do love reading topography, so I can help identify checkpoint locations when asked. A good team should be able to do either role, but will usually default to one role (driver/navigator) as its easier to stay in a routine. Driving is the easier of the two roles.
- What kind of safety precautions do you take before/during then race? We have to pass tech inspection before we can rally and that includes safety. On course, we wear SNELL rated helmets, we carry satellite phones, and have an emergency beacon on our trackers. We also carry a first aid kit, supplies to shelter in place, and a minimum of five gallons of drinking water. We run whip flags in the dunes and carry a spare tire and tools.
- What kind of gear do you take with you in the vehicle? We have to have all our camping gear (because we tent in the desert each night), clothes for temperatures ranging from below freezing to over 100 degrees, tools and parts/fluids to repair/maintain the car, recovery gear if we get stuck, items to repair and change tires including an air compressor. I have a checklist that is several pages long to make sure I don’t forget things.
- Do you bring a cooler with beverages to stay hydrated (and snacks!)? 😊
We did bring a small refrigerator, as my navigator runs on Red Bull. We also had plenty of snacks that are quick to eat (protein bars, candy, crackers, etc.) because we don’t stop for lunch.
RACE DAYS
How long do you race each day?Most days have about 10 hours of competition, but there is a minimum of two hours of prepping before the start line to plot on the maps and develop a route plan/strategy. Then there is fueling and taking care of the car, setting up camp at the day’s end. My days usually run from 4am to 9pm.
How many miles do you do each day? The entire competition is in metric, so in kilometers it’s about 300 per day. That’s if you take the most direct route and don’t get lost or backtrack. It can be a combination of off-roading and pavement transits. We did a lot of pavement this year as compared to previous years.
Are there designated breaks/stops/check-ins along the way? Each day has four mandatory green checkpoints that have staff who record when teams pass through. Sometimes we get fuel stops, but we keep those times to a minimum, as it eats from the competition day. Our cars also have trackers so the staff can see where we are and can contact us on our satellite phones if we are totally lost or in a prohibited area (like a military base).
Do you take turns driving at all? It is allowed, you can change out at any time with your navigator.
Do you listen to music while driving? We did during some pavement transits. I like singing along to 80’s music and Kathryn tolerated it.
What are the nights like? (tell me about basecamps? Are you able to sleep or thinking about upcoming day?) We have dinner around 7pm and then sometimes a briefing meeting at 8pm. The basecamps offer a small competitor tenting area, so tents are almost touching each other. I take ear plugs and try to get into the tent for sleeping around 8-8:30pm. I have a book that I read a couple of pages each night until I get sleepy. Eventually, you’re so tired you just fall asleep. I do sometimes wake up and think about strategy, but since you don’t have much information about what’s going to happen that day, it doesn’t do much good.
Photo Credit: Paolo Araldi
THE 2024 RACE
How did this 2024 Rebelle compare to the other eight you’ve participated in? This course was longer and more consistently rugged than other rallies. We also had several days where we could not get to all the checkpoints due to time and it left us frustrated and hurried. I’m sure that was part of the rally plan.
What was your best day of the race? There were a few good days, but my favorite was the day in Dumont Dunes (Day Four). We found a routine and made some solid choices with few mistakes, and won the stage.
What was your most challenging day of the race? That would be on Day Five. We were in Johnson Valley and had a mechanical issue where the oil pan was broken in a very rocky wash. We had to be towed back to basecamp and were unsure if our rally would continue or if we were done. After the penalties, we only scored 6 points for the whole day.
What was your favorite memory from this race? As we were crossing the finish line, we thought we had a good chance at finishing in 2nd place, even with the broken oil pan and bad Day Five. The rally mechanics team, who replaced that oil pan (once we got it from Brian Clark) in record time, and helped us get back into the game for days six and seven, had all lined up and were giving us a standing ovation. I realized we owed our success, not only to our hard work, but also the hard work and sacrifice of others. I might have cried just a little bit.
What kind of obstacles do you typically/did you encounter on the course? The most damaging ones are the ones you don’t see, a smooth road with a rain damaged ditch that catches you off guard and you hit at speed. Most of the terrain types though are rocky washes, deep ruts, silt beds, and giant sand dunes.
Is there one part of the course that is scarier than most? It took me a long time to get comfortable in the giant sand dunes. They’re still scary and deserve lots of respect. This year we went into some huge bowls seeking blue checkpoints and we were rewarded in finding them. I remember Kathryn saying, “Just go into that next bowl,” which is a daunting task where I can’t slow down or lose momentum, but still have to pick a safe line through. We got into the next bowl and found the flag and celebrated, because it was hard — but we did it.
Is there comradery between the teams… or is it intense competition? Yes and yes. I would say there is more comradery or at least great sportsmanship. On the sand dune day, we aligned with the first-place team and hunted checkpoints together. The advantage for them was we could not gain ground on them. The advantage for us was having another car to help us if we got stuck and another team of brains to maximize the score… and help us move into second place. So, the competition was there but we also had a nice day and provided benefit to each other.
Photo Credit; Nicole Dreon
THE BRONCO SPORT
How did the new Bronco Sport do? What a great car. I could feel a big difference in the suspension and ride height, which allowed us to travel faster. On Day 7, we chose a difficult route that was not recommended due to wash outs and boy — there were wash outs. We made it through quickly though, and got some great points that most teams, even 4x4 teams, elected to bypass.
Where there any new features to the new Sport that made a difference? Yes, the skid plates, suspension, and recovery points were game changers. We also took advantage of the four auxiliary switches to easily attach a light bar and amber lights to help us in the silt and dry lake beds. It was also great that when I turned off the Sport, it asked me if I wanted to stay in the current GOAT mode, instead of defaulting back to normal.
What GOAT modes did you most often use? What else? RALLY mode. It’s a really fun mode to use at higher speeds and worked great in the sand and really in most situations. I tried Off-Road mode some, but kept coming back to Rally. It’s like Baja mode and made for the Rebelle (RALLY)…..
Did you encounter any problems on the course with the Sport? The car did its job and gave what I asked of it. There were no overheats or error codes. The problems we did have can be attributed to the driving situation and extreme off-roading. (Two tires and the oil pan)
Photo Credit: Ernesto Araiza
The 2025 Bronco Sport Badlands with Sasquatch Package at the finish line, after Melissa and Kathryn brought home a close second place finish in the X-Cross class.
Ok Melissa, the next rally is scheduled for October 9-18, 2025 — will we see you racing again?
Yes, it’s the 10th year so I’d really like to compete again.
If you want to see more photos, videos and daily recaps from the race – check out our Rebelle Rally thread in the Bronco Nation forum today.
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