Waking up bleary-eyed, deep in the deserts of the southwestern U.S., Kerstin Brandt worked quickly to pack up her tent.
It was 5 a.m., and she had a long day of driving ahead. As she went to pack her tent into its bag, she spied a scorpion, making a dash for her tent bag. Before it could dive under the cover of the fabric, she snatched up the bag.
Scorpions were just one of the many challenges Brandt faced as she competed in the Rebelle Rally, an all-female endurance race across the deserts of California and Nevada Oct. 12 to 18.
Brandt, who works as a patent agent for Magna International in Aurora, was part of a team of four Magna employees competing in the event, with Brandt driving a Jeep Wrangler 4x4 2,681 kilometres.
Along the journey, she and teammate Katharina Burkart, who works as an engineer for Magna in Austria, navigated roads littered with sinkholes. At other points, they had to battle through sandstorms, at times facing almost "dangerous” conditions, according to Brandt. And of course, even when the tents were set up, Brandt had to guard against the scorpions scurrying around the campsite at night.
“It was a really, as they say, a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said Brandt. “But it was also very stressful.”
Mornings started early, with Brandt often rising before the 5 a.m. wake-up call to pack up and plot the day’s route and checkpoints. Competitors were not allowed cell phones or GPS, and had a series of checkpoints to reach across the event. Points were awarded based on who can get closest to all the checkpoints across the eight days.
Brandt said the routine became so ingrained, with the rush of competing and racing, it was hard to shake.
“Even when I got home, I had a couple of mornings where I woke up and said, ‘Oh my God, I have to determine where is north,” she laughed.
There were challenging moments, like beaching the SUV on the Glamis Dunes. After struggling for two hours to dig the Jeep out of the sand, they had to call for help.
Brandt said while the race was physically and mentally tough, she enjoyed competing alongside a diverse group of women, coming from a variety of backgrounds, who were all very supportive. Within Magna’s team of four, there were competitors from three different countries. Brandt herself is originally from Brandenburg, Germany, but has been working for Magna in Aurora since 2003.
Eric Wilds, chief strategy and commercial officer at Magna, congratulated Brandt and the other employees on their efforts in the competition, and said the company plans to send teams again in the future.
“We are incredibly proud of the exceptional talent and the relentless spirit our employees embodied throughout the Rebelle Rally competition," he said in an email statement. "Through their precision driving and navigation skills, they demonstrated the values that Magna embraces – never settling and pushing boundaries."
There was also the “majestic scenery” along the way, with the route taking Brandt through Joshua Tree National Park and Death Valley, with its iconic dried-up lake beds being a highlight of the trip for Brandt.
Overall, Brandt’s team finished 50th out of 58 teams competing in the 4x4 category.
“We were holding our water against professional drivers, and we finished the course, so that was pretty amazing in itself,” she said. “Over the length of time, it’s quite an endurance challenge.”
