Heather Wurtele

Wurtele grew up in Vernon, British Columbia and attended Clarence Fulton High School. While focused on academics growing up she also enjoyed downhill skiing and played volleyball and basketball. Despite her size being an advantage in the latter two sports she admitted that she was not very good at them and had no ball handling skills. She then attended the University of British Columbia where she was on the varsity rowing team for four years and would earn a degree forest genetics. She continued on in academia at the University of Victoria earning a master's degree in plant physiology.

Wurtele participated in adventure racing for two years, but grew tired of the equipment intensive sport and found orienteering to be too difficult. Wurtele moved on to participate in a few triathlons in 2004, having some modest success in her age group. She moved to Norway in 2005 so that she could pursue a doctoral degree in plant genetics and forestry. After a year as a full-time student she put getting her Ph.D. on hold and returned to North America where she began intense training as age-group athlete. That year she won the Canadian Long Course Championships, beating former Ironman World Champion Lori Bowden, and then one week later was the first overall female age-group athlete at Ironman Coeur d’Alene. This qualified her for the Ironman World Championships.

In 2007 Wurtele received her pro card after seeing the prize money she was forfeiting as an amateur the previous year. The next year she and husband Trevor, who also received his pro triathlon card, decided to fully commit to the sport of triathlon. As a result, they both quit their jobs, Wurtele's as a lab technician at Natural Resources Canada and Trevor's as a currency broker, they sold most of their possessions, and purchased an RV that they used to travel from race to race and to different training locations. That year she won her first big race as a professional at Ironman Coeur d'Alene. Since then she has notched two more Ironman wins at Coeur d'Alene, two Ironman St. George wins, and a win at Ironman Lake Placid. At Ironman 70.3 and half-iron distance races she has accumulated over a dozen wins.

• Canadian Multi-Sport Female-Athlete-of-the-Year (2013, 2014)
• Canadian Long Course Triathlete of the year (2010, 2011)

While earning her masters Wurtele reconnected with friend and high school classmate, Trevor Wurtele. They were engaged prior to moving together to Norway and were married after returning to Canada.

Wurtele's results include: