It took Sandy McKee, four years to convince her husband to move from Estes Park, Colo., to Fairbanks, Ala., in 1992, but she was successful and it’s been a smooth ride ever since.

“She had been at the neighbor’s house and she came home all excited,” said her husband, Bill McKee. “She had just met our neighbor’s sister who was from Alaska and mushes sled dogs. Sandy said, ‘I want to move to Alaska and mush too.’ I said, ‘You’ve got to be crazy if you think Im going to leave here to go to Alaska.’”

His only regret is that it took him so long to say yes. 

On Saturday, March 4, 2006, Sandy took part in her third Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. The Iditarod is known as the “Last Great Race,” an annual dog sled race in Alaska, in which 16 dogs pull a musher on a sled over more than 1,000 miles in less than two weeks, often through blizzards, sub-zero weather and wind chills reaching -100° F.

Back in Estes Park, near Rocky Mountain National Park, the couple bought a used sled and tried to teach their three malamute/wolf hybrids how to pull in preparation for their move. “We thought they were sled dogs until we got up here and saw what real sled dogs are,” said Bill. Their dogs each weighed about 80 pounds, while a long distance sled dog weighs 40 to 60 pounds.

Soon after moving to Fairbanks, the two started getting involved in the dog mushing scene. “Sandy entered her first race in ‘94, just a short local race,” said Bill. She finished in the middle of the pack. She and Bill were hooked.

“We would watch the Yukon Quest, an international dog mushing race held every February that runs between Fairbanks and Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory,” said Sandy. “Then we’d go to Anchorage to watch the start of the Iditarod.” They also visited kennels to look at dogs. They started out skijoring, in which several dogs wearing harnesses pull a person on skis.

Today, this adventurous twosome, married 20 years, have more than 30 Alaskan sled dogs at home, a mix of Siberian husky and other breeds. Every night after work, they spend at least two hours training by having the dogs pull an all terrain vehicle running at 8 to 14 miles per hour. “We have a head lamp,” said Sandy. “With the full moon it’s beautiful.”

This will be Sandy’s third Iditarod. She scratched from the 2002 and 2005 races. In 2002, she stopped in Elim, just 125 miles short of the finish. In 2005, she went as far as Grayling, which is 490 miles from the finish line. About a quarter of the mushers that participate in the Iditarod are female.

“It’s probably the hardest thing we’ve ever done,” Sandy said. The novice may take two weeks to complete the trail, while the professional takes nine or 10 days. “I just hope to finish,” she said. Bill ran the Iditarod in 2000 and finished.

During the race, veterinarians are at each check point. If they see a dog with a health problem like a sore wrist, they may wrap it with ice. They will also help mushers treat foot pad abrasions with an ointment. If a dog cannot be treated, he or she will remain at the check point in veterinary care. If the dog is dropped from the race or if the musher scratches, Bush pilots with the Iditarod Air Force will fly the dog back to Anchorage.

What does one wear when the weather outside is frightful? Sandy wears long underwear and polar fleece sweaters under insulated overalls and a heavy duty jacket, beaver mitts, face covering, boots and hat. She even wears a two-piece goose down set of underwear under her insulated overalls if the temperature plunges to -50. The dogs wear booties to protect their feet and also wear dog coats when the weather gets extremely cold.

The Iditarod is not for the faint-hearted. During the race mushers either sleep on the floor in a sleeping bag at a check point or they sleep right in their sled in a sleeping bag.

In early February, the McKees will pack food and supply bags for Sandy and the dogs and ship them to 18 different check points. “For the dogs we pack dry dog food, frozen meats and fish, extra dog harnesses, dog coats and medications,” said Bill. “For Sandy, we pack meals and extra clothing. Last year, we shipped over 2,700 pounds of food and supplies.”

“The race is a lot of fun,” said Sandy. “You go through some beautiful parts of the state, like the Alaska Range. The mountains are absolutely beautiful. I saw a wolf for the first time. It’s a beautiful country that normally you wouldn’t see. We go from Anchorage over the Alaska Range and out on the coast of the Arctic Ocean.”

In her “spare time,” Sandy works in chemistry and microbiology at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. “My colleagues are all very supportive of my goal,” she said. “They are all athletes too.” She works with Drs. Andy Evanger, Mark Butcher and Scott Cannon.

Dog sledding was not the McKees’ only draw to Alaska. “We have beautiful summers too,” said Sandy. “They do get a little hot, with temperatures rising into the 90s. It’s very green here in the summer. People have wonderful vegetable gardens because it doesn’t get dark. You practically live on adrenalin.”