HAIL, Saudi Arabia — The starting line for the Rally Jameel was drawn in 2017, when women in Saudi Arabia earned the right to a driver’s license. Last month, the ceremonial green flag finally fell on the kingdom’s first women’s rally at the Qishlah Palace in Hail, waved by Prince Abdulaziz bin Saad bin Abdulaziz, and Saudi Arabia marked a new historic beginning for women.
The rally (Jameel means beautiful in Arabic) ushered in the era of women’s motorsport in the kingdom. Rallying, or desert racing, originated in the early 20th century. Racers drive long distances, usually in stages, over rough terrain in modified vehicles. Often courses, such as the famous Paris-Dakar Rally, contain checkpoints or waypoints where drivers and navigators accumulate points as they plot their way to the finish.
“Coming here and participating in our first driver meeting gave me goosebumps,” said Atefa Saleh, 41, a Siemens engineer from the United Arab Emirates. “I’m excited to be the driver. But we switch if something really goes wrong,” she joked.
Ms Saleh’s co-driver, Eleanor Coker, 48, is an American living in Saudi Arabia. She had an unusual method of preparing for her navigational duties. “My son came home from school and caught me on his PlayStation during the Dakar game,” said Ms Coker, referring to Dakar 18, a racing simulator.
Before 2017, Saudi women could only improve their driving skills by playing video games such as Grand Theft Auto and Gran Turismo. It was time to get out on the dirt and have a little fun.
In mid-March, participants came from 15 countries, including Great Britain, Germany, Oman, Spain, Sweden and the United States. There were 34 teams of two women, and more than half had at least one Saudi.
I am a writer and rally driver and was invited to compete with a delegation of three American teams. We knew that some participants would be professionals who already understood the joy of rally. But most of them only recently had their license and were new not only to the sport, but also to off-road driving. What we all experienced exceeded expectations.
The Jameel covered more than 1,100 kilometers (687 miles), about 340 (212 miles) of that off-road. The participants collected 141 waypoints from road books provided to the teams the night before each of the three stages. A Stella III EVO rally computer, a high-tech odometer mounted to the dashboard with Velcro and duct tape, contained a digital file of the course and tracked a team’s speed and location via GPS. The Stella opened each waypoint at a distance of 800 meters (half a mile), and when drivers were 90 meters (about 100 yards) from the bullseye, the waypoint was validated by the computer and points were awarded.
Four challenges of time, speed and distance, called average speed challenges, were set for extra points opportunities. At hidden intervals within pre-publicized distances, each team’s rally computer recorded speed and penalties were imposed if drivers were inaccurate. If you thought speeding was difficult, try 20 kilometers exactly 38 kilometers per hour (23.6 miles per hour) on soft sand highways, around hairpin bends on gravel roads or up steep slopes.
The Rally Jameel was conceived and sponsored by Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel, the chairman and president of the Abdul Latif Jameel conglomerate and Bakhashab Motorsports Development, and a champion rally driver himself. It was also protected by Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, the Saudi ambassador to Washington.
Stage 1 of the rally challenged participants with a round-trip route from Hail, in northwestern Saudi Arabia, to Jabal Umm Sinman Mountain, just east of the Jubbah UNESCO Heritage Site, where rock carvings and inscriptions nearly 10,000 years old can be found on the desert rocks. The team agendas did not include sightseeing, however, as fines were issued if you did not return within a limited time – and speeding was not allowed.
In the larger rallying world, both speed and navigational accuracy determine who is on the podium. But the Jameel imposed a speed limit of 70 mph off-road, and the posted limits applied on roads. Without a successful and safe opening event there would be no second year. The organizers also knew that if they entered speed, the participants would need a race car equipped with a roll cage. Accessibility to more women was the main objective of the rally, so the vehicles were cars that you could see in any driveway.
The second leg of the rally consisted of a passage from Hail to a glamping-style bivouac 600 meters above Al Mithnab, a governorate in the Qassim region, not far from Antara’s Rock, a famous boulder that appears to have been split in two by a razor. In the shadows, it is said, Antarah ibn Shaddad, a sixth-century poet and warrior, met his love, Abla.
The wide and barren Saudi desert landscape looked nothing like the desert near my home in California. Fellow competitors could have easily been old friends, sharing rally tips and driving techniques, rolling our eyes over husbands and children, and drinking way too much coffee to sleep well. The other side of the world suddenly felt less distant.
For Manar Alesayi, a divorced Saudi mother of two teenagers from Jeddah who drives a lifted 2016 Jeep Wrangler, off-roading was nothing new, but competition made things more difficult.
After the first day, her team was in second place, but by day 3 it had fallen to 13th. “That was a harsh reality for me,” Ms Alesayi said. “I thought we were doing so well. But I have learned so much.”
Mrs. Alesayi stole her father’s car at night and drove around their farm before it was legal for her to drive. We have so much more in common than I could have imagined.
“My mother told me I am a daughter of the desert,” she said. “Now I just want to drive as much rally as possible.” As Rod Hall, the legendary American off-road racer, said, “First you learn how to finish. Then you learn how to win.”
The organizers of Rally Jameel have modeled their vision after the Rebelle Rally, the longest map-and-compass navigation rally in the United States, which happens to be for women.
Emily Miller, Rebelle founder and rally champion, set out to curate an event where women could challenge themselves off-road.
“Having a successful rally doesn’t mean winning,” said Ms Miller, who acted as a steward and mentor at Jameel. “It’s about how you work with your teammate, how you prepare and show up. That way you learn from your mistakes and move on. Those are skills that you use in your daily life.”
But it’s not all serious business either. “Most importantly,” she continued with her trademark mischievous smile, “the rally is all about having fun.”
For the third and final leg, teams navigated around camels making their way through the endless and intimidating dunes to Riyadh, the capital. Without a doubt, the rally’s most challenging ride took place within city limits, on highways where lane lines and speed limits seem like mere suggestions.
Upon arrival at our last base camp, I encountered Lauren Bradley, Mrs. Alesayi, a Scottish physical education teacher who lived in Jeddah, rattled, her face red from crying. “That traffic was the most terrifying thing,” she said in her soft brogue. “Someone tried to run into us a few times.”
While women are finding their place behind the wheel, not everyone in the kingdom is supportive. However, the government seems committed to protecting women. Several competitors indicated that if they felt harassed or intimidated along the way, they could report it to the police and that this would have consequences for the perpetrators. While the Saudi political climate remains complex, opportunities for women are increasing.
Dania Akeel holds a rare award in Saudi Arabia, her homeland. She is a rally champion in the T3 class of Cross-Country Baja and drove the 2022 Dakar. Her Toyota Land Cruiser, adorned with badges from the Jameel and her sponsor, Toyota ALJ, also carried a rallying cry in the form of a single decal : #get started.
“The Rally Jameel is the next step,” said Ms Akeel. “Women have been on the road for a few years now. Now they have the choice to get rid of it.”
At the end of the rally, two Swedish pro drivers, Annie Seel and Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky, topped the podium in a 2022 Toyota RAV4.
My co-driver, Sedona Blinson, and I won stage 3 and took fifth overall. But the most satisfying result could have been two Saudi women, Afnan Albediny and her co-driver, Fatmah Al Shamri, who finished 22nd.
The performance that was evident in Ms. Albediny’s broad smile had nothing to do with her place in the standings.
“Before I was a driver. Now I can say that I am a rally driver.”
