Washington’s 2026 Olympus Rally Makes History as Longest ARA Event, Attracting 98 Teams from 12 Countries

Stage rally racing—where purpose-built vehicles compete against the clock on closed gravel and dirt courses—is gaining explosive interest in North America.

Unlike circuit racing, rally competition tests drivers across hundreds of miles of unpredictable terrain, and events like the Olympus Rally showcase why this motorsport demands both speed and survival skills. This is especially true for competitions on dirt and gravel, and the Olympus Rally is no exception.

You may have read stories here about accuracy-based time-speed-distance (TSD) competitions (aka “road rally”), like the North American Alcan 5000 Rally or Thunderbird Rally in Canada my husband, Andy Lilienthal, and I competed in before.

But what about go-fast, closed-course, first-to-finish off-pavement events? That’s stage rally and fractions of a second count … and it’s alive and well in the United States. It’s an extremely prevalent motorsports activity abroad and here’s why you should take interest in it stateside.

Record-Breaking Participation: 98 Teams from 12 Countries

The 2026 Olympus Rally is one of several American Rally Association (ARA) competitions. This year marked 40 years since the event hosted the finale of the legendary Group B era of the World Rally Championship (WRC).

Olympus Rally, located in Washington state, returned in a gravel-thrashing fashion as the longest-distance rally in ARA history (compared to other ARA stateside stage rallies being 100-120 miles long).

This event grew to a three-day, 200-mile event that’d undoubtedly go down in history books. The remarkable Pacific Northwest competition attracted an astounding 98-car assembly of teams from 12 different countries, including the U.S., Canada, Finland, Lithuania, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.

A record 11 RC2-class entries and 17 Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA)-homologated cars topped the event.

Olympus attracted multiple talented teams from Europe. This included Jari-Matti Latvala (born 3 April 1985), a Finnish rally driver and team principal of the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC Team. He is an 18-time WRC event winner and holds the record of the most WRC starts at 212 competitions.

He challenged current four-time ARA champion Brandon Semenuk, rising WRC star Seth Quintero, and other seasoned top notables in the field, like Canadian and former Mexican Rally champ Cordero, U.S. favorites and long-time rally veteran Travis Pastrana, as well as newcomer Lia Block (daughter of the legendary Ken Block), and others.

Latvala earned the top spot and collected first place with his U.S. debut at the 2026 Olympus Rally, in a rally-prepped Toyota GR Corolla.

Manufacturers like Subaru, Toyota, Hyundai, MINI, Ford, and Stellantis prepared specially built rally cars for this historic gravel rally competition. Rally-prepared vehicles feature reinforced roll cages, competition suspension, and specialized all-wheel-drive systems designed to withstand the punishment of high-speed off-road racing.

The rally was so challenging that only 66% of starters made it to the finish, with some of them breaking down during the competition but able to reenter it with quick fixes and luck of the draw.

Stage Rally is a Marathon, not a Sprint

One of the dream teams, Subaru Motorsport’s driver Travis Pastrana and Australian co-driver, Rhianon Gelsomino, have a storied history together. Gelsomino started rallying in 2005, when she was just 24 years old.

Her father and two brothers were rally drivers and they taught her how to co-drive, getting her into the sport.

“I became a full-time professional [stage rally] co-driver and was traveling the world co-driving,” Gelsomino said.

“In 2020, Travis [Pastrana] reached out to me to see if I was available to co-drive for him. He knew me from rallying in USA and knew I had a great deal of experience.” In 2021, the pair won the American Rally Championship together.

The 2026 Olympus Rally didn’t exactly go according to plan. “We unfortunately were sitting in 3rd overall when we had a crash on Day 2. We ran wide on a L2 minus long,” she said. This is co-driver lingo to tell the driver how tight or long a curve may be when driving. “We got in loose gravel and half rolled onto our roof.”

Pastrana and Gelsomino were having a great event in their limited-class Subaru, up until that point. “We had a big lead in our class and were on average one second per mile off the lead in the rally. Our limited car is not an ‘overall class car’ and to be setting the times we were, this was fantastic.”

Co-driver Gelsomino and driver Pastrana still lead the American Championship after that challenge, but it’s much tighter than they’d like.

Husband and Wife Duo

Alex Gelsomino, Rhianon’s husband, was the co-driver for Ken Block for 18 years before he passed away January of 2023. “Co-driving for Lia [Ken’s daughter] was a natural progression for Alex and me.”

Rhianon Gelsomino completed seven rallies with Lia Block, and Alex three of them. “Seeing Alex on the overall podium with Lia [at Olympus Rally] was an incredible feeling, knowing Alex has also done this with Lia’s dad many times.” It was her return to rally after two years of driving in the F1 Academy Series.

For the husband-and-wife rally duo, the Gelsominos feel rallying is the best sport in the world. “Come to a rally. Spectate, volunteer and then come attend an OzRallyPro class and learn the role of co-driving and get involved asap.”

Beyond the rally drivers and co-drivers, stage rally events depend on hundreds of volunteers who ensure safety and manage the complex logistics of multi-day competitions.

Stage Rally is More than Competitors

An endless number of volunteers helped the ARA and the 2026 Olympus Rally organizers pull off the event. Ella McMillen, 22, lives in Seattle Washington, and got into rallying at age nine. Since then, she’s competed in about 10-15 TSD events and volunteered in about 10 of them.

“My dad has been rallying since 2002, and I was always fascinated by it, especially when he’d come home with plaques and trophies.” As a driver, he’s competed in both stage rally and time-speed-distance events.

When McMillen was nine, she volunteered at her first rally, the regional No Alibi TSD event in 2013. “It was right after my first tap dance recital, so we drove there with my hair and makeup still on.” She started competing around age 12, navigating for her father, Jeff McMillen.

Last year she was stage captain for Oregon Trail Rally with her father, which she said was really fun. “I enjoy volunteering because you get to be so close to the action, especially working start you’re right next to the cars as they take off.”

One of the most critical volunteer roles in rally racing is the sweep team—specialized 4x4 recovery crews who follow competitors through each stage.

Sweep Vehicles are Rally Recovery Critical

Tim Chovanak, age 63, from Snohomish Washington, first volunteered at Pacific Forest Rally in Merritt, British Columba (BC) in 2012, intending to get into rally racing.

“As with many others, I quickly realized it was more expensive than I was willing to spend,” Chovanak said, “so I decided to continue volunteering. From that time, I’ve attended almost every stage rally in BC and some in Alberta, mostly as a stage captain or start radio operator.”

In 2014, Chovanak was invited to help with the Alcan 5000 Rally working TSD checkpoints. Keep in mind this TSD event is based on the precision of exact speeds on a specific route, not the fastest speeds to get to the finish line while following specific route like stage rally.

In 2019 Chovanak participated in his first Alcan 5000, preparing the route/survey for the 2020 winter event that traveled all the way to the Arctic Ocean and beyond. Andy and I competed in that event with our 1992 right-hand-drive turbo-diesel powered Mitsubishi Pajero.

“Since 2018 I’ve been helping with sweep in U.S. rallies and have been sweep for stage rallies in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Colorado. I’ve also done recovery for King of the Hammers and been a chase truck in the Mexican 1000.”

Sweep Vehicles Breakdown

Sweep vehicles are typically customized 4x4 rigs with a wide variety of upgrades, including a winch, vehicle recovery points, and lots of vehicle recovery gear to help rally vehicles unstuck if they land in a ditch or worse.

For each stage, one sweep’s rig also has a medic/EMT on board as well as a medic bag to help with injuries.

Chovanak and the other sweeps teams carry a lot of gear, including but not limited to:

• Recovery strap
• Tow straps
• Winch (optional)
• Air compressor
• Ham radio
• Chain saw
• Battery-powered sawzall
• Fire extinguishers
• Pry bar
• Spill kit
• Tool kit
• Spares for vehicles
• Shovel
• Jumper cables
• Tire patch kit

Chovanak’s truck is a 2010 Ford Raptor equipped with a winch, ham radio, and the sweep safety gear listed above.

“Volunteering for stage rallies is the best way to get a front seat to the action,” Chovanak said. “We’re at the start or on-stage watching the action, interacting with drivers and co-drivers and helping make the event a success.”

This year’s Olympus Rally had 400 volunteers who “signed up to spend three very long days in the woods to be part of the event,” as Chovanak stated. “As sweep we also got to run the stages at a somewhat reasonable speed.”

He and the other sweeps helped rally teams unable to complete a stage due to mechanical failures or crashes. Chovanak’s daughter also volunteers in stage rally. She was employed at the same stage as father/daughter McMillen’s stage at Olympus, working the start.

A Family Affair

“I’ve been involved in rally since 1996,” Mark Tabor said, a Portland, Oregon resident. His daughter and son, Madelyn and Henry, attended many rally events from birth. He said Madelyn went to a rally while he and his wife competed in an event when she was only four weeks old.

Tabor is 49, daughter Madelyn Tabor is 23, and son Henry Tabor is 20. Mark Tabor’s mother, father, sister, and brother have all competed in stage rally.

There are different forms of rally for people to start in. “Madelyn started out racing Quarter Midgets (QM) at [Portland’s] Alpenrose Dairy, as it was an accessible form of motorsport to start in.”

From there, with an entire family’s backing that competed in rally, she “aged out” of QM at the age of 18. She then joined Tabor on the rally side at the Mike Nagle Rally 2021. “In 2024, she competed in the national series with ARA, in the Naturally Aspirated 4WD class (NA4WD) and placed second in the championship that year.”

Tabor said Madelyn’s notable achievements was finishing 2nd to Travis Pastrana in the Limited 4WD class in 2025, as well as being selected as 1 if 15 women under 27 to travel to Poland to try out for a seat with M-Sport in the Junior World Rally Championship in 2024.

“The latter achievement is notable; she was the only woman chosen in all of the Americas.” She also got the first Shift Up grant for a rally racer this year.

After Poland, Tabors secured a sponsorship to run a Ford Fiesta Rally3 in the 2025 ARA championship. “Madelyn notched up several podium finishes and earned a 2nd in the overall championship for Limited 4WD.”

She gained confidence with a new car for 2026 (an updated 2025 Fiesta Rally3 from M-Sport).

Homegrown

A Pacific Northwest native, switchbacks and logging tracks through forests around Shelton, Washington are familiar territory Madelyn Tabor knows.

Out of nearly 100 cars that competed, which included the above legendary powerhouses, the Tabors knew they had their work cut out for them.

After the three-day, approximately 200-mile-long stage rally finished, Madelyn was 4th in L4WD and 14th overall. Father Tabor was 1^st in L2WD and 16^th overall and son Henry followed suit with 5^th in L2WD and 23^rdoverall.

Rally Summation

Stage rally is a unique motorsport. It requires endurance and strategy, with speed and talent to win. The famous phrase “in order to finish first, you must first finish” is a hallmark of this sport.

For Tabor, it’s more akin to marathon running than sprint racing. “Pair that with the wilds of the outdoors, unpredictable roads, weather and day/night [rallying] and it is an adventurer’s dream!”

Like many others tied to the sport, Tabor says voluntee111ring is often referred to as having a backstage pass to the action. “You’re first row to the action or in some cases, working directly with the stars of the sport in timing controls, etc.”

For him and many other volunteers, there’s no better way to get up close to stage rally!

The 2026 Olympus Rally proved that stage rally racing in America continues to grow, attracting world-class talent to compete alongside homegrown drivers on some of the most challenging rally stages in North America. As the longest ARA event in history, it set a new benchmark for rally competition in the United States.

If you’re interested in volunteering, the sport is always looking for enthusiasts to help and get involved. Check out your local rally organizations or reach out to competitors, photographers, or media like us. We’re happy to help get others in the dirt for a rally good time.

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