Joanne Younker and Rachel Michalecki are no strangers to stressful situations that demand quick thinking and calm under pressure.
The pair work at the Whistler Health Care Centre—Younker as a nursing support worker and Michalecki as an emergency nurse—but will soon take their skills behind the wheel in the 2023 Rebelle Rally this October.
The duo, dubbed Team Snowstorm, will tackle the 2,500-kilometre, eight-day, off-road navigation challenge across the California and Nevada deserts from Mammoth Mountain to the Glamis Sand Dunes using just a compass and map. They’re one of 56 all-women teams taking on the challenge, and just one of three from Canada.
“We figure, being from Whistler where we live in a pretty rugged environment with a lot of extreme sports going on, this is something similar to the snow, but different, because it’s in the sand dunes,” Michalecki said. “Let’s see if it is the same as the snow and what it’s like out there in their wilderness.”
Younker came across the rally through her work as an instructor with Overland Training Canada, letting Michalecki know she was interested in taking on the challenge.
Younker’s interest in rallying runs in the family, as her late father George Vanderham was one of central Alberta’s winningest drivers in the 1970s. Team Snowstorm will even carry reminders of him in the vehicle with them as they complete the challenge—Younker’s mother recently found his old stopwatch and compass.
Six of the competition days require the teams to hit checkpoints on a map “in the form of a heading and distance from a known point or a latitude longitude coordinate,” and two of the days see them given a rally roadbook with an emphasis either on remaining on course or on time.
“This is the same style of rally that he did, in two different ways, because two days, we do prime distance and speed rally, and six days, we do compass and map,” Younker explained. “Dad’s rallies encompassed all of those, because it was before digital technology.”
During the rally, competitors won’t know each stage’s course until the day of, but there’s still plenty the pair can do in advance to get prepared. Younker noted she and Michalecki will be honing their compass and map skills, particularly in terms of pinpointing their specific location on a map and determining the best route to the finish across the terrain on the topographical map.
Michalecki said understanding the vehicle—her personal Toyota Tacoma 4x4—as well as its limits, is also part of the prep. The team attended the BC Overland Rally near Merritt in July to drive with Younker’s fellow professional instructors and get a sense of the Tacoma’s abilities.
“I drive it on all the forest service roads around here, and the rally is just stock vehicles, which is awesome. It’s unique in that sense,” Michalecki said. “A lot of the companies use this rally to show off their vehicles and what they’re capable of, just stock, so I thought that was neat.” (Stock in this case meaning street-legal vehicles with minimal mods—anything but racecars.)
During the rally, the current plan is for Michalecki and Younker to share roles as driver and navigator.
“We’ve worked as a team in some pretty intense situations at the health-care centre, as you can imagine, so I feel we have a pretty good sense of when things are stressful, or not going exactly as we want them to, really breaking that down, getting through it and being a good team together with good communication,” Michalecki said.
Both are proud to take their place in a male-dominated sport, and appreciate teams that have come before them lending their wisdom, as Younker is in contact with some prior Rebelle Rally champions.
“They’re great. They’re super helpful. They’re answering any of the questions that we have,” Younker said, adding that they have also received support from Kal Tire in Squamish.
While the goal is to podium in the overall event, there are other factors that will determine its success.
First and foremost, Team Snowstorm is raising funds for the Indigenous Life Sport Academy, where Michalecki is entering her seventh year of volunteering.
“It’s just so important in this area. If it wasn’t for this organization, a lot of the kids wouldn’t have the opportunity to participate in all the sports and activities that a lot of other people that come to this area get to do,” she said. “It’s been such a good outlet and makes such a difference.”
Donors to the fundraiser will receive a candle handmade by Younker, as will every team participating in the rally.
“We have two marathon nights that we have to spend alone in the desert, and we’re gifting the teams these candles so that on those nights, we can all light them and unite in spirit on those nights that we’re in the desert alone,” Younker said.
The team hopes donors who receive candles light them on the same night. The dates of the marathon nights have not yet been announced, but follow the team on Instagram @snowstormteam114 and catch the action live at rebellerally.com.
