Heather Lynn Nelson

Heather found her passion for the outdoors at the ripe age of four when her parents loaded her up with a backpack and took her into the Sierras for her first wilderness adventure. At four Heather also joined her first swim team. Here she discovered a bit of her competitive side. She competed in swimming for 18 years, finishing her career after four successful years on the UC Davis varsity swim team.

After receiving a Bachelor's degree from UCD, Heather's passion for the wilderness and love for a good challenge drew her to fight wildland fires in the heat of the California foothills. While racing  through the small river town of Coloma, lights and sirens blazing, to respond to a medical or brush fire, she discovered something new. Coloma was flooded with people who got paid to guide rafts down the river day after day!  Cool!

That discovery caused Heather's life to do a complete 180. She abandoned her life of fighting fire and enrolled in a river guide school. Within days of her first commercial trip, she met her future husband and partner in adventure, Brandon. Brandon introduced Heather to Dan Rathbun, her future adventure racing teammate. From there, there was no stopping her!

Heather jumped into the world of Adventure Racing with Team Bones. By their third race, they were claiming victories against accomplished teams. By their third year they were racing as Team Subaru and Heather was traveling to remote locations in the Amazon, Fiji, Mexico, the Yukon and beyond. After 71 teams dropped out, Team Subaru was one of only ten teams to complete the Eco Challenge Fiji in 2002, and placed 8th in the first Subaru Primal Quest Expedition Adventure Race. The team also claimed top three honors at the Cal Eco Adventure Race Series three years in a row.

When Heather isn't racing, her and Brandon are planning their next expedition. Their successful Canada to Cabo 2000 and Around Baikal 2003 journey's have launched writing, photography and public speaker careers for both Heather and Brandon.

When asked "What's next?", Heather gets a dreamy look in her eye, points to a small island on the map and says, "There!"