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Rally of Abandoned Ontario
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First place Max King - pictured with his buddy, his Jeep and Off Road Addiction bag containing a whack of prizes.
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Rally of Abandoned Ontario
Randy and Brandon McGregor, second and third place.
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Rally of Abandoned Ontario
Just Jeeps Random 5th place winner Matt Kulesza with his Subaru.
By Steve Rock
The event was only supposed to blow the doors off, but with one hundred and five vehicles registering, and well over two hundred people converging at the Husky truck stop in Bradford one cold weekend in February, the Rally of Abandoned Ontario blew our goal clean out of the parking lot.
If you’ve ever watched that classic movie The Italian Job, (the proper 1969 version starring Sir Michael Caine that is) you’ll know that it features cool cars, precision planning, teamwork, awesome driving and something about a robbery. Very much like the rally, with the exception of the robbery.
Conceived originally as a fun event to get a few people out exploring (in the dead of winter when the Ontario 4x4 community loses most of the trails to snowmobiles), drivers were to be given written clues to fifty abandoned locations within a pre-determined area. All they then had to do, was using a specific Back Road Map Book, plot the locations, plan their route and set off to discover and photograph abandoned Ontario. The pictures would then be uploaded to a secure Dropbox account for verification and to determine the ‘roll of honour’ once the rally was over.
The clues were posted to social media in the early hours of Saturday morning and those who wished to compete had to register in person at the Husky (as we were also accepting donations for the Bradford Food Bank who received $450 plus two trunk loads of food. Thanks guys!). For two and a half hours the CORE Outfitters support crew marshalled an amazing variety of vehicles through registration process before parking them up prior to the planned 11 am start.
Teams had travelled from as far afield as Sundridge, Windsor, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and even Gatineau, PQ to compete, and they arrived in everything from full spec overland rigs, through stock 4x4’s, a variety of ‘normal’ cars and even the obligatory mini-van. Some teams ran through the night in their attempt to win the coveted title of Rally Champion but despite everyone’s fantastic efforts, no one found all fifty locations although many came very close indeed.
The CORE Outfitters crew were out and about during the weekend recovering the odd car and truck that had slid into snow filled ditches, but many teams were working together helping each other out and making new friends in the process. Not only that but one team stopped to help recover some locals who had driven off the road. Way to go guys!
There were a couple of issues that put a slight damper on things, but that’s not to be unexpected for a first time event. Hopefully it didn’t ruin things for the people that it affected, as everyone put in an incredible amount of effort and displayed an awesome rally spirit throughout the entire weekend. And I know that I didn’t see one unhappy face, even when a driver discovered that their invincible Subaru was in fact, just as vulnerable as the humble Hyundai when stopping on narrow backroad shoulders, but sadly not quite as successful in getting going again.
Now I’m not sure if the 2003 big-budget remake of The Italian Job was any better than the original (that’s down to personal taste), but this years rally was so much fun and well received by everyone, that even on our small budget we’re doing it again with the Rally of Backroad Ontario 2018.
Next year promises to be better than the original, but the old school format will remain the same, and ghost towns will still play a part, although there will be fewer locations to find (some quite tricky) but over a wider area, and measures will be put in place to ensure that this years’ mistakes aren’t repeated.
Oh, and of course you’re guaranteed at least one English accent at next years’ Rally of Backroad Ontario.
RAO 2017 SPONSORS - Thanks to the following companies for generously supporting the Rally of Abandoned Ontario.
- 4WDRIVE MAGAZINE
- BACK ROAD MAP BOOKS
- CORE OUTFITTERS
- OFF ROAD ADDICTION
- JUST JEEPS
- RON BROWN & FIREFLY BOOKS
- DEADBOLT DECALS
- TOWRONTO TOWING
- NV EURO MOTOR WORKS
- HUSKY TRUCK STOP, BRADFORD
RAO 2017 WINNERS LIST
- Rally Champion - Max King, 47 locations, 2420 pts
- Runner Up - Randy McGregor, 44 locations, 2340 pts. Post time 9.12pm
- Third place - Brandon McGregor, 44 locations, 2340 pts. Post time 10.24pm.
- 5th and 13th place ‘random’ prizes - Matt Kulesza & Chris Couture.
- Junior Navigator Award - Team Suntok.
- Disorientation Award - Len Toelke. Len and the crew from Out Here Adventure were allegedly too busy recording the event and forgot to take pictures of the locations.