B.C. women set to compete in 9-day off-road race through the Moroccan desert

Two friends raised on Vancouver Island will test their mettle, not only against hundreds of other teams, but also the unforgiving Moroccan desert in for a grueling nine day off-road rally.

The all-female event has been postponed till September because of coronavirus

Clare Hennig · CBC News · Posted: Mar 14, 2020 2:00 PM EDT | Last Updated: March 14, 2020

The Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles du Maroc is an all-women’s rally race that takes place 100 per cent off-road. (Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles du Maroc)

Two friends raised on Vancouver Island will test their mettle, not only against hundreds of other teams, but also the unforgiving Moroccan desert in a grueling multi-day off-road rally.

Nanaimo-based helicopter pilot Myra Van Otterloo paired up with Jessa Arcuri, a school vice-principal in Penticton, and the two friends are the first entries from B.C. into the women-only race Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles du Maroc.

"I just thought what a great way for women to promote women and to do something adventurous as a team," Van Otterloo said. "We both love adventure."

Myra Van Otterloo, right, and her friend Jessa Arcuri, left, have paired up for the race in Morocco. (Submitted by Myra Van Otterloo )

By all appearances, Van Otterloo would seem to already have plenty of adventure in her life.

She fights forest fires and answers other disasters calls all over the world for her job and during her spare time, she races vehicles — including an event through ice and snow in Sweden a few years ago.

This rally will be very different from anything she and her teammate have done in the past, though.

Van Otterloo says part of what attracted her to the event is the fact that it is all women, in a usually male-dominated sport. (The Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles du Maroc)

"I'm preparing for a lot of sand," she told David Lennam, guest host of CBC's All Points West.

"Trying to not get stuck in this sand, I honestly believe, is going to be our biggest hurdle."

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The nine-day rally, through Indiana Jones-esque terrain, is different from most other races because instead of ripping along a predetermined route, each team has to plot their own way to set checkpoints every day — without the help of GPS or cell phones.

Myra Van Otterloo works as a helicopter pilot. She says many of the skills, like risk assessment and thinking on her feet, will come in handy for the race. (Submitted by Myra Van Otterloo)

"We're given a roadmap in the mornings of our destination and all that we're allowed is a ruler and some compasses," Van Otterloo said.

"There's really no roads, you just sort of make it up on you as you go."

The team that drives the shortest distance while finding the greatest number of checkpoints wins.

Successful teams will navigate to the highest number of checkpoints while driving the least amount of kilometres, all without the help of GPS. (The Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles du Maroc)

Van Otterloo and Arcuri, competing under the team name True North Rally Cats, were all set to go and had their bags packed for the race that had been scheduled to start this week.

It has been postponed until the fall because of the coronavirus pandemic.