What It Really Means to ‘Win’ the Rebelle Rally, As a Three-Time Rally Navigator
After acting as a Rebelle Rally navigator for a few years, I can finally explain what it truly means to cross the finish line first.
If the Rebelle Rally were easy, everyone would do it. That’s one of the key phrases Rebelle Rally founder Emily Miller uses during every training session and at the beginning of every Rally. And I have to admit, for me, that’s the allure of this all-women’s navigational challenge. It’s incredibly hard.
And not everyone can do it. That includes men.
As the Rebelle Rally enters its 10th year, and I enter my fourth year of competition, I figured it would be worth taking a look at what “winning” the Rally really means because it’s so much more than taking the podium with a first, second, or third-place finish. As I set my intentions for the 2025 Rebelle Rally, here’s what winning the Rally looks like to me.
This story is 100% human-researched and written based on actual first-person knowledge, extensive experience, and expertise on the subject of cars and trucks.
What Exactly Is the Rebelle Rally?
This is a grueling competition that traverses more than 1,500 miles over eight days. There are no breaks or timeouts. It involves strategy, patience, and perseverance. You get dirty and tired. And if you get stuck or have a flat tire, there is no AAA to call to save the day. You deal with it yourself. You camp outside in temperatures that could range between 14 and 90 degrees.
You have to prepare for everything from catastrophic windstorms to monsoons. And you need to be able to drive everything from dunes to rocky mountain passes. All without getting lost in the middle of the desert. Then you wake up and do it again. For eight straight days.
There are no cellphones or GPS. It’s just you, your truck, and your partner. So, you’d better hope the three of you get along. Otherwise, it’s going to be a rough eight days.
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Not Everyone Crosses the Finish Line, But Everyone Wins
I know this sounds a little bit like “everyone gets a trophy,” but it’s not. If you can survive extreme weather conditions, sand in your contacts, sleeping on and in dirt, warm drinking water, no showers, 5 a.m. wakeups with a cowbell, no access to your loved ones, peeing behind a bush, etc., for eight days, you have won.
Especially if you, your partner, and your truck make it through unscathed. That’ll get you a gold star in addition to the trophy. The old phrase, “you don’t know what you don’t know until you don’t know it,” is so true for the Rebelle Rally. Whether it’s your first year or your 10th, every year is different, and you walk into the Rally with a lot of unknowns.
You have to be adaptable, and a key survival skill is rolling with the punches. For example, my year two had a cold start, and I hate being cold. Needless to say, I was unprepared for 14-degree sleeping weather. While I was hoping to sleep with a hot water bottle, I couldn’t because the water tanks at base camp were frozen. So, I subbed in several packets of Hot Hands in my sleeping bag. Not freezing to death = winning.
Watch: Jill Ciminillo and Kristin Shaw talk about preparing for and competing in the Rebelle Rallly
Winners Look Out for Others, Too
Last year, 6 miles from the finish line, my partner and I got a flat tire on our 2025 Ram RHO. I was hoping we could patch it and limp into the finish line, but it quickly became clear it had to be changed. While we could have changed this 70-pound tire ourselves, it would have taken us twice as long.
We were lucky enough to have three teams stop and give us a hand. It took us two hours to remove the old tire from under the truck, jack up the vehicle as high as possible with the factory jack, then dig rocks and dirt out from under the tire so we could put the new tire on. The sun was setting, and any visible markers we were going to use to get back to camp were quickly disappearing.
There was some actual fear setting in, but we stuck together and worked together to find our way back. We all timed out of the finish, and we were among the last to make it back to camp. Those women didn’t have to stop; they could have made their finish on time. But they consciously chose us over points, and that was a win for all of us.
Believe It Or Not, Winning Skills Are Transferable to Everyday Problems
When I first competed in the Rebelle in 2022, I was also dealing with the reality of my dad having Lewy Body Dementia. It was hard seeing someone I looked up to all my life dealing with such a horrible disease; it was hard for my family to deal with this horrible disease. But getting lost in a wash for two hours during the Rebelle Rally, sleeping in 14-degree weather, digging out from the “shitty” dunes alone in 100-degree temperatures because no one else is there to help you, shows you that you can do hard things.
Now, instead of seeing obstacles, I look for solutions – both in the Rally and in life. There’s always a way through or around. Additionally, the Rebelle Rally is kind of like a marathon. You can’t see the finish line from the start, but you know it’s out there. And to reach it, you have to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
In many ways, this is an allegory for life, and when I encounter hard things, I always tell myself the finish line is out there. Just. Keep. Going. While the outcome may not always be what you want, sometimes simply finding your way to the other side of whatever you’re going through is the win that you need.
Learning You Can Adapt and Thrive Helps Build Confidence, Even if You Don’t Win
One of the biggest wins of the Rebelle Rally is learning to do that which you didn’t think you could. For me, that’s navigation. During the competition, you traditionally have one teammate as the driver and another who is the navigator. I specifically and thoughtfully chose to be a navigator because it’s hard.
Not that driving is easy, but as an auto writer who goes off-road often, that comes more naturally to me. Navigating does not. It took me eight years to understand the grid in Chicago. And whenever anyone tries to tell me “that’s east” because that’s where the lake is, I’m like: Um, I don’t see any water.
And after three years of navigating, it’s still hard, but each year, I get incrementally better. In fact, I’m now confident enough to go for a run overseas in a country where I don’t speak the language by myself without a map and know what I need to do to find my way back to my hotel.
This Year, I Look Forward to Learning More—About Life and Myself
After three years, I’m navigating for a new partner. So, winning looks a little different this time around. In previous years, it included things like “not breaking the truck” and “not getting lost in a wash for two hours.” But this year’s win includes “understanding my teammate.”
And since neither of us is a rookie competitor, this is my partner’s fifth Rebelle, so I’d include “doing better than last year” as a win. That’s a hard concept to pin down, but it includes finding a win in every day, complimenting my partner frequently, understanding that both of us win or both of us lose, making fewer mistakes, and picking up the pace.
Oh, and not getting lost in a wash for two hours.
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