Ladies Offroad Network Team Podiums 1st ever Artemis Rally
Ladies Offroad Network / BFGoodrich Tires team podiumed for the 1st ever Artemis Rally! Four days of constant challenges kept all 8 teams on their toes as they tried to hit checkpoints, targets and timelines while surviving hiking, shooting, canoeing, a rollercoaster, offroad trails and more.
The Ladies Co-Driver Challenge winner Marissa VanGundy joined Charlene Bower to "do the best they could", which is all Charlene ever asks in competitions like these. "Task based events are a blast! We are pushed outside our comfort zone and expected to try things we otherwise wouldn't. Marissa and I both had strengths and weaknesses and we were allowed to make decisions for ourselves on how to support the team playing on those," said Charlene. The team started on a high note on Day 1 winning the 9mm & AR shooting competition along with unofficially ranking at the top of the Tire Change, PullPal pull and WARN winch car flipping competitions. 
The team had their challenges though. The most fun Challenge was learning a new vehicle. "We got the opportunity to utilize the iconic BFGoodrich Tires jeep RUBY. It is an incredible machine, but has its idiosyncrasies as all Jeeps do! By the final day we had adjusted our strategy to our 3rd teammates strengths...including the BFGoodrich Teleflow ActivAir system that auto airs up and down the tires. Talk about a huge time saver to manage the 39" KM3s," added Charlene. 
Day 2 and 3 the team continued to hit checkpoints and do hikes to incredible overlooks. Using OnX Offroad to map the coordinates as waypoints, the team made strategic plans to get as many points as possible. "North Carolina is beautiful. It was fun getting to drive through all the backroads and my navigation skills got better and better everyday. We had a personal limit of 3 U-turns a day and I am proud we never hit that on any of the days!" said Marissa. 
In typical Ladies Offroad Network fashion, Charlene took the 2 newer teams and helped them with their OnX Offroad strategy to feel successful. On Day 3 she gave the young college ladies team a Rugged Radio and had them follow her for the first few points of the day. "They had a strategy to upload OnX as soon as they had service so we headed to the gas station together where I was able to give them some pro tips. We agreed on the first stop and as we drove I used our Rugged Radios to teach them how to use the tools. When we saw them at the end of the day they were all smiles with success! These moments to help others be successful are truly the wins for me!" said Charlene.
Day 4 was the teams highest and lowest point. With the finish line in sight, it was an all or nothing day. The team routed the perfect path to hit all the main loop points. Everything was going smooth, until all of a sudden the asphalt turned into a dirt trail. Charlene was confident in the KM3's on Ruby and got through the long twisty Baja-like section quickly with a big smile on both their faces. As they came out of that section, there was still time and 2 huge point options ahead, but they both involved taking the canoe off the vehicle, putting it in the water and then restrapping the canoe to the roof of their huge vehicle. With commitment and determination, they got to both lakes in less than 10 minutes, finishing both challenges for a total of 500 points!!
With 15 minutes to spare, the team just had to load their final activities via text and Instagram posts. This was not a problem, until there was no service at the final checkin and the points never loaded on time!! All the afternoon points were gone. "Talk about disheartening! The second canoe stop was a risk, but honestly, that would not have changed the outcome of the upload problem. We know what we did that day and pushed against the grain. Getting through that dirt section and unloading, carrying then loading a canoe...twice...in record time is what I will reflect on the most about this event. It was the final act for us as a team, and we absolutely nailed it," said Charlene.
The Ladies Offroad Network / BFGoodrich Tires team was thankful to get on the podium with 3rd place after the huge points loss amongst the tough competition. 
The Instagram posts from the event are on @LadiesOffroadNetwork (June 1-4, 2023) Video and pictures will be released via Bower Media. Thanks to Sheralynn Clevenger for being a part of the capture team for the Ladies Networks. 
Meet Charlene @ 4WP Charlotte
Thanks to the hospitality of 4WP in Charlotte, come and hang out with the Ladies Offroad Network team on Monday!
Monday June 5th from 4-7pm @ 4WP (4004 South Blvd, Charlotte NC)
Meet Charlene, Marissa & Sheralynn!
Ask your Offroad or Vehicle Questions!
Bring your 4x4 Vehicle and we can Dig In!
Want to Pull Winchline, Play with your Recovery Tools, etc? OK! Let's Do It!
-Casual ~ Drop By ~ Anytime ~ H-ang Out ~ Enjoy Stories ~ Laugh! ~ Pizza compliments of 4WP
If you have questions, please text 480-470-2369, please have patience as we are competing in an event and will reply asap
Congratulations
After a long process, Marissa VanGundy will be the co-driver for the 2023 Artemis Rally in North Carolina
"It was a challenging process to only choose one lady as a co-driver. All of the ladies hosted the skill set to be successful in this competition. In the bigger picture, we were presented with another challenge due to a change of vehicle to the amazing Ruby. This vehicle change put me flying across the country, not driving with my tools etc. Marissa's proximity to drive to the event and bring her arsenal of needs tipped the scales. This will be an interesting story as we get a vehicle that is new to me, an open top and a incredible challenge! Yes, we can!" said Charlene Bower
Sheralynn Clevenger will also be joining the team as our Media Team. Watch our FB and IG pages for constant updates on the adventures of the day.
May 15 Update
The Top 5 Ladies have selected themselves. In a twist of events, 5 RAD Ladies have taken the initiative to be part of the Co-Driver Challenge, a difficult task with a more than a couple items on the punch list to accomplish. "I can not be more proud of these 5 ladies who have put themselves in a position to compete with me at the Artemis Rally. I know them all in different ways, and they are all ultimatly capible. These are the moments I wish I had an endless budget and could create 3 teams!" said Charlene.
Congratulations to:
Caitlyn G., CA
Cherly, S., CA
Jessica C., AZ
Marissa V., OH
Tamika W., WY
Be Charlene's Co-Driver...
Be Charlene's Co-Driver at the Inaugural 4-day Artemis Rally in North Carolina. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be a part of something new, a little wild and a ton of fun...and probably pretty competitive too. This 2023 opportunity mirrors the 2nd event ever for Ladies Offroad Network. Be sure to start with the History Lesson at the bottom of this page for why this is so important...or listen to the LIVE@5!
There will be a process to determining the Co-Driver for the Artemis Rally:
Stay Tuned as we work with the ladies who registered!
A Important History Lesson...
Let's roll back the calendar to 2016. I, Charlene, was burnt out on my job, which was my own business Bower Motorsports Media. I was in the 7th year of hustle for BMM, 22 years working in the offroad industry. I couldn't exactly quit myself, but I decided that I wanted to. (Insert long story) While deciding on how to shut my business down, I knew that I couldn't let any of my clients down, so I decided to take the year to finalize my contracts...and in the meantime say YES to opportunities that I would normally say NO to because I was too busy (or whatever excuse I had that time).
Through a series of phone calls (insert long story here) I was given the opportunity to compete in 3 events. Heck Yea! Up to this point, my career had been in multiple roles, but mainly as support, never actually in the competitor seat. To put it gently, I learned in 2016 that I am highly competitive!! LOL!!
Now I had 3 opportunities, all extremely different. Who would be my co-driver, my partner in crime, my adventure buddy? I have a ton of amazing friends and I knew each of them would help put us into a winning position, but that wasn't the answer. I wasn't in it to win it (believe it or not!) I wanted to live and experience the opportunity.
I realized that if I was this burnt out and feeling this way, others were too and I needed to give them as much opportunity as I had to take advantage of these events.
INSE
RT 1st Ladies Co-Driver Challenge circa 2016
It was a wild plan, somewhat crazy with a twist of lime. But to me the plan didn't really matter, because all I thought would enter was 10 ladies...which then we would sort out who had the most vacation time and it would be easy. Yea, not so much.
In an extremely short amount of time 91 Ladies from all over the US and Canada entered to be my co-driver...and like this one...it wasn't "easy" to enter. Thank goodness I had a plan...and it worked! 91 Ladies went to 33; 33 went to 10; 10 got to come on a 4 day all expenses paid trip; then co-drivers were allocated to trips. It was awesome...and exhausting!
That year, with challenge participants, we did Trail of Missions that was a ABC Special, took 2nd in the Pro Class at 36 Hours of Uwharrie, won the 1st annual Rebelle Rally and took 2 ladies to the SEMA Show!!! 2016 Landing Page Yes, apparently I am slightly competitive 🙂
Reminder: I am shutting down my business!
What also happened in the background was an emergence of ladies that wanted to be around other ladies that enjoyed the same hobbies they did. They wanted to support each other. It was pretty amazing.
Just before the end of 2016, as I was finalizing my last contract, I found out that I was nominated for the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame Rising Star in the Industry Category! (Insert long story) Sincerely honored...and sincerely confused with how to potentially receive an award...and give the industry my notice of quitting at the same time...I had to make a decision.
My Mom and Dad had watched what had happened over the course of 2016 and in the phone call where I got to tell them about the ORMHOF announcement they agreed that I should focus on the ladies opportunities. I grumbled, just wanted a paycheck with health insurance, and then agreed to give it a one year trial run.
The whole first year was purely research on what ladies wanted and needed.
INSERT: 2017 Ladies Co-Driver Challenge #2 CLICK HERE
We did it again, but a little differently, refining the idea and thoughts from the year before. The events were going on the Rubicon Trail with Achieve Tahoe, a huge media package for the Baja 1000 point-to-point race and podium finishes for our teams at Fury Rode. Another Epic Year.
At the end of 2017, I decided to keep going forward with what had now been officially named Ladies Offroad Network. In 2018 I put together our first nationwide tour stopping at 26 4 Wheel Parts around the country with a 5 hour hands-on class.
INSERT: 2018 Ladies Co-Driver Challenge #3 CLICK HERE
We didn't do competitions as much as huge experiences including Yukon Gear & Axle Garage Experience, the World Championship Off-Road Races at Crandon and Camp RZR at Glamis.
At the end of 2018, my world turned. Everything changed personally and it was time to adjust. For 2019 I decided to go on the road "full time" and stopping at 75 4 Wheel Parts locations around the country delivering my hands-on class.
Because of the education based travel, and no time to add in 3 large adventures, in 2019 I decided to change the layout of the Challenge to 11 Learning Topics for ladies to complete in a set amount of time. It was awesome and well received. The Top 10 Weekend was amazing ~ it was the win for the top points and random draw winners.
2020 & 2021 were a struggle, to say it lightly lol, so 2022 became a time-out year as history repeated itself. Six years into Ladies Offroad Network, with 2 politically aggressive crazy years, and 28 years working in the industry, it was time to mix it up and fill the bucket again.
INSERT Opportunity to Participate in the 2023 Artemis Rally. (It's a long story)
As I was considering who should be my co-driver for this opportunity, a few names came to mind and rumor got out that I was doing it so my phone rang a couple times. But I had to come back to my roots, back to what made the Challenge what it is today and ultimately how Ladies Offroad Network started. Throughout the last 7 years I have been the lucky one getting to take countless ladies on rad experiences, many life changing. We had to create a "new version" of the Ladies Co-Driver Challenge.
And here we sit in 2023. The Challenge is 10 educational projects to complete in 6 months and the Ladies Co-Driver Challenge is back with a twist of lemon!
I am competitive and we will do the best we can every minute of every day, but it is not about winning. There is a special lady that will earn this opportunity to compete alongside me and it could be the week that changes everything.
