Team Grey

Emma Garrard, 26, Truckee, Calif.

Emma Garrard has been competing in the great outdoors her whole life. Garrard, a former collegiate runner and cross-country skier, has never lost her competitive desire or her enthusiasm for the outdoors. She now works as a photographer for the Sierra Sun Newspaper in the Sierra Nevada town of Truckee, Calif. Her mountain locale puts her in close proximity to the sports she loves backcountry skiing and snowboarding, cross-country skiing and endurance running. Garrard regularly competes in XTERRA off-road triathlons and endurance races; she was the 2007 XTERRA USA Amateur Champion.  She also kayaks, surfs and rock climbs. As a news, sports and features photographer for her local newspaper, Garrard has the opportunity to view adventure from both sides of the lens. She describes adventure as discovering something new, having a new experience and being challenged. While Garrard admits she doesn’t have competitive driving experience, she welcomes the challenge during the Land Rover G4 Challenge Nevada Passage.

Dean Kruuse, 36, San Diego, Calif.

As an experienced triathlete and the owner of an independent Land Rover repair shop, Dean Kruuse will combine vast adventure skills and intimate knowledge of Land Rover vehicles like no other competitor. If there is one thing Kruuse cannot do, it would probably be choosing between Land Rovers and adventure sports.  Aside from daily opportunities to express his love of Land Rovers by getting grease under his finger nails, Kruuse is an avid surfer, which he works into his daily cross-training activities. He lists his biggest adventure as a month long tour in a 1970 Volkswagen Bus, surfing, kayaking and windsurfing along the South African Coast.  His competitive driving experience includes competing in the 2003 Land Rover Trek finals and attending the Rally Driving School in England.  The South African native spends much of his time with his wife and 14-month-old baby, but when he can, seeks adventure by discovering a remote destination that he’s never seen, experiencing new challenges and coming away with a greater sense of himself and an appreciation of what nature has given us.