Heather Moyse is a dual national sport athlete in bobsleigh and rugby and is a remarkable example of passion and dedication to sport and life. She was first recruited to the sport of bobsleigh in August 2005. In her first season with pilot Helen Upperton, Heather won the Canadian Championships, finished 2nd overall in the World Cup Circuit with one gold, two silvers, one bronze, and push-start records on five international tracks. She and Helen finished in fourth place at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, where they set another push-start record. In February 2010, all eyes from her hometown of Summerside and the rest of PEI and Canada were on Heather and pilot Kaillie Humphries at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Heather and Kaillie were in first place through all four heats, breaking the start record twice and the track record three times on their way to Canada's first-ever Women's Bobsled Olympic gold medal.
Heather has represented Canada in 22 international rugby games as a member of the National Senior Women’s Rugby team and was the leading point-scorer in tries for the whole tournament and the only Canadian selected to the All-Start team at the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2006. After a broken shoulder and focusing on the Olympics took her away from rugby for 2 years, she returned to the playing pitch in the summer of 2010 after her gold medal victory in Vancouver, with the attempt to again represent her country at the Women’s Rugby World Cup in England at the end of that summer. Not only was she successful at re-gaining her position on the squad, but again, Heather finished the tournament (this time tied) as the leading try-scorer for the tournament.
In 2001, Heather was selected to serve as a Disability Sports Program Officer with Commonwealth Games Canada in Trinidad and Tobago. She developed and established a camp for children who are deaf or hearing-impaired from islands across the Caribbean called Camp ABLE (Active Bodies, Leadership, and Esteem). Heather remained in Trinidad and Tobago for almost three years doing other work with the Paralympic Association, Disabled People’s International, and the Trinidad and Tobago Rugby Union. Since returning to Canada in 2004 to do her Masters in Occupational Therapy, she has continued to serve as a Member-at-Large for Commonwealth Games Canada with an avid interest in international development through sport.
Heather has taken on a new role, doing motivational speaking for corporations, organizations, charities, benefits/fundraisers, schools, etc. and enjoys bringing inspiration and perspective to various situations, motivating anyone in grade school to an executive boardroom to pursue their own personal excellence.
Heather is a true Islander through and through, and takes any opportunity to return home for some Maritime air, and to give back to the community that made her into the person and athlete she is today.
