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THE OFFROAD LESS TRAVELED Hatteras Island’s Valerie Stump prepares to tackle Baja Mexico’s most prestigious race.
Life takes you down many paths, but the best ones lead to the beach.
Some of life’s most important moments happen on impulse. In 1994, Valerie Stump spent Spring Break in Rodanthe and was totally smitten. Three weeks later, the then-23year-old came back to wait tables for the summer — and never left. That single move changed the Ohio native’s whole life. It ignited her love for the beach, introduced her to her husband of 23 years, and led her toward one of her greatest passions: offroading. “It was something that I just thought was amazing, especially coming from the north,” Stump says. “Just a neat way to get out there and get away from everything.” Now, nearly three decades later, she’s about to jump on a whole new adventure. This April, Stump and a team of three other women will embark on a five-day, roughly 1,000mile journey down the Baja Peninsula for the National Off Road Racing Association’s Mexican 1000 — one of the most prestigious races in the world.
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Founded in 1967 by Ed Pearlman and Don Francisco, the NORRA Mexican 1000 begins in the town of Ensenada, sending drivers south through the cities of San Felipe, Guerrero Negro, Loreto, and La Paz, before crossing the finish line in San Jose Del Cabo. “It’s interesting because it’s offroad, but it’s also on-road,” says Stump. “You’ll be driving down what you think is the race trail, and all of a sudden there’ll be a minivan with a family next to you. Sometimes you’re driving through people’s farms and there’s cattle everywhere. Other times you’re along these cliffs, looking down at the sea.”
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Although it’s her first time racing through the desert, the life Valerie’s built for herself on the Outer Banks has prepared her well. In fact, Stump’s team will be racing a Meyers
