PORT GAMBLE — The 1,150 miles between Anchorage and Nome, Alaska represent a long, cold, lonely stretch of the world, yet every year around March about 80 teams of mushers and dogs line up to cross it — with nothing but their gear, wits and confidence in their dogs to go the distance.

Port Gamble resident Laura Daugereau is working to be among those 80 teams and achieve the honor of running the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 2008. If she succeeds, she’ll be the first woman from Washington state to participate in the event.

It’s an ambitious feat for anyone.

But the 24-year-old has been feeling the pull to do so for more than a decade.

It started when she was 10 years old in Leavenworth, Daugereau spent a day out in the snow having the family’s Labrador-Samoyed mix pull her sled up a hill. The two would then slide back down together, repeating the process over and over. Thoroughly enjoying the experience, she started to research dogsledding, and her interest grew from there.

“I love training animals,” Daugereau said. “I started to train her to pull things, and I went to the library to find books on it. When I realized she could pull me, that was it. It was all downhill from there, I guess you could say.”

At 13, Daugereau and her dad attended a sled dog symposium in Fairbanks, Alaska, where she was selected to run a three-dog team from four-time Iditarod winner Susan Butcher’s kennel. Having been bitten by the mushing bug, Daugereau started investing in her own dogs with the support of her parents and a lot of hard work.

“Susan Butcher, who died last summer from cancer at a very young age, was the first woman to tear down a lot of barriers for women in the mushing world,” said Indianola resident and musher Don Duncan, who has known Daugereau for about nine years. “She won the Iditarod four times, and I’ve talked with people about Laura, and they refer to her as the Susan Butcher for the next generation. She’s got the heart and soul for racing.”

Daugereau has participated in several junior mid-distance races, including the Junior North American Championships and the Junior Yukon Quest.

Her ownership of Night Runner Kennel doesn’t hurt, either. She started the business in Poulsbo and has since moved it to Sand Coulee, Mont., where she travels twice a year to train her dogs.

“I’ve been training this certain group for the last three years,” Daugereau said. “You start with them when they are puppies, and you bond every time you go through something with them. It’s all about building trust.”

Now, Daugereau is trying for the big time, preparing to race in the Iditarod in 2008, which kicks off March 1.

With 24 dogs in her Montana kennel, she’s training and raising sponsorship for the race now, and is confident her dogs and 12 years of mushing experience will help her finish the daunting race.

“There are several different ways to win the Iditarod,” Duncan said. “The most common many people see is to come in first place. But a lot of people have particular goals during the race, and meeting those goals is a win for them. Just making it to the starting line is a win for a lot of people. There are about 80 dog teams and about 20 of that 80 have a chance to make first place… But given her experience, and Laura has a lot of intense experience for someone her age, as a rookie we could see her placing in the upper half, which is huge to someone her age.”

Something else that is huge for the competitor? The size of butterflies in her stomach.

“I’ve got the normal rookie jitters right now,” Daugereau said. “I keep asking myself, ‘Can I do this, do I know enough?’ But I have a lot of backing from my family and friends, and confidence in myself and my dogs.”