Driven by Krug

An 8-day off-road navigation competition, that just so happens to be for women. “It is not a race for speed, but a unique and demanding event based on the elements of headings, hidden checkpoints, time, and distance using maps, compass, and roadbook.” No phones, no GPSes, and no connection to the outside world. You navigate with paper maps, compasses, plotters, map rulers, and roadbooks for “enduro” challenges (both timed and on-route versions). – For more info on the event, go to www.rebellerally.com.

Every year, the route is different. You know your start and end points for purposes of travel, but you have no idea where you’re going along the 1500+ miles until 5am each morning, when you plot the checkpoints and route plan for each day. The paper maps you’re given may be from the last 5 years, or they may have been from over 10 years ago – some routes on the map may exist and some may not exist anymore. Some years you may go through ghost towns, some may have mining areas, and sometimes you have the chance to encounter ghosts or aliens along Route 66 or Area 51.

My Rebelle History

In 2018, I joined Honda R&D after graduating with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. A few months later, I started working with other Honda associates to build a vehicle to compete in the Rebelle Rally. It was a research project then, to see what we could learn and get out of competing in the Rebelle. The following year, Liz Casteel and I founded the Honda Rebelle Rally team as a part of the Honda Americas Race Team (HART) program. It’s all associate-led and off-the-clock, promoting professional and personal growth in Honda associates. So, in 2019, Liz and I competed together for the first time in the X-Over class with a 2019 Honda Passport. We had only 2 months to prep the vehicle and learn navigation skills. We competed as both drivers & navigators, swapping roles each day – a rare commodity across teams, where most teams stick with a designated driver and designated navigator for the duration of the Rally. We won Rookies of the Year, in a time where 4×4 Rookie teams had only won the award due to higher point possibilities – they’ve since split the award to be by both a rookie cross-over and a rookie 4×4 team. We also received 3rd place in X-Over class, showcasing the off-roading heritage and proving the capabilities of the Honda Passport. When COVID hit, we weren’t able to compete in the 2020 Rebelle. We came back in 2021 in a 2021 Honda Ridgeline,. That year we had some difficulty with wheel speed sensors on our vehicle – we completed the Rebelle in 6th place after spending the first 2 days without AWD and in a low-power mode.

After leaving Honda R&D in early 2022, I started competing as a privateer with Michelle Kerby in her 2019 Lexus GX460. 2022 was my first year competing in the 4×4 class and it was the first time I was solely in the navigator role. Michelle was a rookie, which added its own challenge for training and getting her up to speed on how the Rebelle works, as well as general skills needed to compete. We had only met once and the longest we had spent together in the car was on the drive from Park City, UT to Lake Tahoe, NV. Even with this limitation, we placed 11th out of 55 teams in the 4×4 class. In 2023, we were only able to train together for a single weekend, but we placed 7th out of 55 teams in 4×4 and we were the highest placed privateer team – all teams ahead of us had completed many trainings and were heavily OEM-sponsored through funding, vehicles, and equipment. In 2024, we were able to get together for only a single training weekend, but we were able to place 7th out of 55 teams again – and again, we were the highest placed fully privateer team that weren’t really able to train together more than 2 days throughout the year.

My Current Rebelle Journey & Goals

For 2025, there was an unexpected change of plans. I was gearing to team up with Kendra Miller in the X-Over class as an OEM-sponsored team, but the sponsor opted to not move forward when the uncertainty of tariffs was looming in March & April. We hope to be able to compete together in 2026 and are looking for sponsorship opportunities, preferably with an OEM that can help provide a vehicle for us to compete in X-Over class together.

Training takes time and money, which is hard to do with a full-time job and limited paid time-off. Gaining sponsorships is difficult to do in the climate of today. When competing in 4×4 class, the competition for Top 10 is equivalent to the X-Over class’s competition for podium. For 2025, there are 12 fully sponsored, heavily trained, and paid to compete 4×4 teams from Ford, Jeep, and Toyota. A couple of those teams include people who provide off-road trainings and live in the areas where the Rebelle Rally takes place, which gives an additional advantage. On top of that, there are many more partially sponsored teams that are given training at a discount. To be in the Top 10 of 4×4 class is an honor and it’s been a great achievement for me over the past couple of years.

For more information on prepping for the Rebelle, see my Blog Posts.

2022-2024 Rebelle Photos – Team 137 Gritty Up

2023 Rebelle:

2024 Rebelle: