Fighter Control to dog-sled racing

The former RAF Fighter Controller Melanie Clegg will take part in four dog-sled races in the inhospitable terrain of the Finnmark plateau in Norway’s High Arctic, to raise money for the RAF Benevolent Fund. Clegg, who retired from the RAF as a flight lieutenant in 2005, decided to live in Norway after an exchange posting in the country. Declining to use a ready-made sled team, she has reared her own dogs from pups. The first of the races begins on December 15; the series ends with the taxing 500km Finnmark Race in March

Melanie mushes into record books
Paul Harvey
March 19, 2009

HUSKY racer Melanie Clegg received a hero's welcome as she became the first British woman to complete one of the world's toughest challenges.
And her mum has compared her to Scott of the Antarctic.
Middletonian 'musher' Melanie, 37, and her team of eight husky dogs spent three and a half days battling through snow, ice and sleep deprivation to finish the Finnmark race, a 500 kilometre slog around the Arctic Circle.
Melanie finished 41st out of the 47 strong, mainly Norwegian field of starters.
As she approached the finish line in the middle of the night, unable to see any other racers, she was worried her arrival would go unnoticed. However, her fears proved unfounded as she was met with scenes of jubilation as she entered the streets of the Norwegian town of Alta.
Mum Doreen Clegg, 82 of Bentley Avenue, said: "She was worried no one would be there, but when she crossed the finishing line all the other mushers and race officials came out to greet her, they were all cheering and clapping."
With six other racers dropping out during the race, Melanie was the final competitor to cross the line in Alta and received a specially engraved hunting knife as the last finisher. Doreen Clegg said that as a rookie, Melanie had struggled during the race, but never lost her determination to finish.
"On the last leg she was very tired and so were the dogs, so she stopped them, got out her sleeping bag and they all had a couple of hours' sleep before carrying on. She never intended to win the race, she just wanted to finish with all of her dogs fit, which she's done.
"We're very proud of her. It's like Scott of the Antarctic. The Norwegians won and the British came second."
Born and bred in Middleton, Melanie moved to Norway in 2002 when she was stationed there with the RAF and liked it so much she decided to stay. She now works as a church organist in the town of Vadsø in the Arctic Circle.
Anyone who wishes to find out more about Melanie and her life with her dogs in northern Norway can visit www.prospecthuskies.com