Author: Ann Woodward
After the Poker Run at Broome Tioga Sport Center in February 2016, I began a crash course on planning events. Southern Tier Off Road Club (STORC) had 6 events last year: Scooter’s Memorial Mud Bog, Veterans Day, Father’s Day, Hill Billy Bogs, Bro Lites, and an open wheel. All events have trail riding, but some of the events at Broome include Tough Trucks (seen in the above picture), Auto Cross Racing, ATV Racing, and UTV Racing. We also allow UTVs to play with the trucks on the trails. While planning all of these events, I have met some amazing friends and a lot of ladies that love to drive their rigs. I have also talked to some very cool ladies in the offroad industry.
At the open wheel, we had a guest surprise from Heather and Nate Tucker who were awesome and very easy to talk to. They went out on the trails with my brother, but I was busy helping friends and couldn’t get out with them. I still want to ride in that machine because when Heather is coming, you pay attention. The motor sounds so sweet! I have stayed in contact with Heather, and she is helping us with Ladies Day at Broome Tioga.
The Bro Lites is a racing series that came to Broome last October. This gave me the opportunity to meet the next awesome lady, Cora Jokinen. She helped me organize this race and set up the track design for the drivers. She came to Broome to meet with me and discuss the track’s layout. This was very exciting for all the STORC members in addition to the opportunity to build this track for the Bro Lites. They will be back to Broome on August 19, 2017. I am very happy I got to meet Cora; she influences so many ladies in this industry. Plus, she has helped me with advice on a few other events. She is one of my role models, and maybe one day I can travel to some of the races she has already completed. Furthermore, we got to check out the Torq-Masters Jeep! My husband was going crazy just looking at the designs and how it’s laid out.
In October 2016, I helped with Women’s Wheeling Day at Rausch Creek. I had no idea how many ladies really wanted to drive offroad. There had to be at least 300 trucks at this event. I got to meet Christie Vinson from OK4WD and Susan Bodnar from Jeep Girls Rock. These ladies planned an amazing day. I helped out with the 101 class and was a trail guide for the ladies that have never taken their vehicle off the pavement. I am still friends with a lot of the ladies I helped get through the park. This was a great day for us all! This inspired so many to get out and learn this sport, and it’s still growing every day.
Here we are in 2017 heading out on new adventures with so many volunteers and lady off-roaders. We have so much planned this year, but we are so excited about the Ladies Day at Broome Tioga. I have met and networked with so many off-roading people in the last year. So many more clubs than I ever imagined have been getting involved in our vision as a united off-roading community in NY. The ladies listed in this flyer are all combining their resources to offer so much more to everyone that wants to get in the driver seat. More ladies than I have ever seen are coming out to get some mud on their tires. We have Northeast Off-Road Adventures planning certified classes for the ladies at this event. All the ladies involved will have a booth, lead trail rides, or help with classes. We have been planning this event now for about 8 months already, and we are extremely excited to bring this kind of event to our local ladies. I was also inspired by the Ladies Offroad Network and Charlene Bower’s constant encouragement. We were very lucky to have her chime in on our first conference call. She had some great ideas and a lot of good advice. Having all of these talented ladies come together is great for the upstate NY area, and there is much more to come this year.
There are going to be many adventures for me this year. I was invited to join Bogi's Garage with the Chevy Montage, a Chevy truck all female build. JoAnn Bortles, the lead fabricator, asked if I would be interested in helping with this build. Would I be interested? Are you kidding me? Of course, I would love to be involved with this opportunity! How awesome would it be to help a bunch of ladies building a vehicle for the SEMA Show in 2017? After the truck is finished, it will be revealed at SEMA and Miller Welding later this year. I think this is going to be a great build to follow, and it’s awesome that Bogi would do something this cool for all the ladies that want to get involved. I am currently raising the funds to travel to Phoenix, and hope I get the chance to help. If not, I will be watching and am very excited to see the final reveal.
Another build I will be attending this year is the Ladies Offroad Garage in California, hosted by Ladies Offroad Network and The Fab School. I am super excited to get my hands on that fabrication equipment. Charlene Bower’s live cast from The Fab School made it look awesome! We will be building something cool for the Ladies Offroad Network. I have no idea what that is, but I am so happy I can be a part of this. In July, my friend, Trisha Glezen, and I will be traveling to California for this amazing experience. Everyone says to rest up before you leave to hang with Charlene Bower because she never sleeps!
This year is looking to be very exciting with all of these plans. Although running an off-road club is very demanding, I wouldn’t change it, and I am looking forward to another amazing year. I have had a great team through the year. We have planned and organized a few cool events with room for improvements. Some of my friends that are always helping with the events at Broome Tioga have been Gary Robbins, Kate Stankiewicz, Kwiatkowski Cassidy, Danni McMahon, Sam Crawford, Tim Parke, Donald Mallery, and Tom Hurd. STORC could not have grown this much without them. What an adventure last year was! If we can accomplish this much in just one year, then this year is going to be amazing. I want to thank everyone that has helped, encouraged, and stood with me this past year. I also want to thank the new friends that have joined us and the ladies helping with the Ladies Day at Broome Tioga.
Click here to read about Ann's 4Runner build.
Author: Ann Woodward Mallery
