ONE FOR ALL
This March Sarah Moss and her fellow ‘huskyteers’ will spend six days mushing 32 dogs over 285km in temperatures as low as minus 30º C
Eight brave ladies take on a tough Arctic dog sled challenge for charity
Tell us a bit about the challenge
Eight of us will be heading to the Arctic, where we will be mushing huskies from Tromsø, in the north of Norway, to Kiruna, Sweden’s most northerly town. We will spend six days and nights outdoors in very low temperatures, with each of us responsible for caring for our own team of dogs.
What was your inspiration?
It started with two friends, Amanda Nissen and Georgina Spacey. They pulled us all together. We are all friends of friends and all fairly like- minded in that we all have a certain strength of character and enjoy a challenge. We’re doing it in memory of Amanda’s mother, Gill, who struggled with a long battle with cancer. She’d always wanted to mush huskies, but sadly passed away before she could fulfil her dream. We’re raising money for four charities – Insight Counselling Dundee, Age UK Scotland, Medical Detection Dogs and CoppaFeel.
How are you preparing for the event?
For the last year we have been working hard on our own individual fitness, mainly cardio, strength and
endurance training. As a team we have been under the wing of Shelley Booth, a fitness trainer from Dundee who has engaged us in periodic fitness tests to monitor our progress. More recently we have been at Glenmore Lodge, Aviemore for a Winter Survival Training course and we’ll be heading out to Tromso ahead of the challenge to get hands on experience with the dogs and sleds.
What will be the toughest part of the challenge?
We’ll have guides to help us along, but I think the biggest problem will be the cold. Although we’ll have kit that’s designed for the climate, I think it will be hard to endure. After a day’s sledding, we won’t be rocking up at a nice hotel for a hot meal and a shower. We will need to tend to our dogs, making sure they’re fed and have shelter from the elements. Then we will need to put up our tents and prepare food before trying to get some sleep. Keeping warm at night will be a real issue. And because we’re women, there have been plenty of jokes about how we’ll manage to go to the loo!
Is sledding with dogs dangerous?
I think our main worry will be injury if one of us were to come off the sled. And there’s the potential for hypothermia and frostbite – those are the main dangers when you are out in extreme temperatures for long periods of time.
How is the fundraising going?
We’ve done lots of group and individual fundraising – everything from raffles to donate-a-dress, fashion shows, bake sales and car washes. Our big charity event was the Arctic Ball at Prestonfield House in Edinburgh. Our goal is £100,000 and we are on target to reach that, although we’re not quite there yet.