RUST magazine: RUST #44

Jocelin Snow
It struck me, these are the times when
women can do all kinds of things. I
remembered being in high school and at
graduation the Air Force came along to see
if they could sign people up. Naturally, I
wanted to be a fighter pilot so I got in line
and when I got up to the front I said
– Okay, I’m gonna sign up. I want to be a
fighter pilot.
The officer said – Women aren’t allowed
to be fighter pilots.
And that was that. Of course they are
now. And so hearing about the GS Trophy,
I don’t know, it kind of took me back to
that moment.
So I said to my buddy – Let me get this
straight. This is only the second year?
And he says – Yep, the women are going
to be equals, going head-to-head against
the men, riding the same courses.
I said – I’m in.
I had five weeks to train and that was
it for the qualifier. I borrowed a piece of
property and we built some obstacles
that were something like the obstacles I’d
found online. And I trained every single
night after work, and on the weekends, up
before it was light I was on the track and
after it was dark I was on the track. I ate my
lunch, ate my dinner on the track, ridingtraining.
And I tipped that motorcycle
over, I mean it was laid on its side more
than it was stood straight up, I mean, it
was like all the time. And I got better and
better and better and better.
So off I went to that qualifier. I was so
scared. So, so, so scared! But I got lucky, I
made it through. And that meant I got the
plane ticket to South Africa to go compete
in the International Female Qualifier. 23
women showed up at the qualifier and it
was – these words sound so little when
I say this – but it was the most amazing
experience in my entire life, even more so
than the GS Trophy itself.
Within an hour I had 23 amazing friends,
enjoying the camaraderie that we shared,
the bond we had, cheering each other
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