It's not exactly marathon record holder Haile Gebrselassie challenging sprint sensation Usain Bolt to a dash.
But it's close.
Four-time Iditarod champion Jeff King announced on Thursday he's entering February's Fur Rendezvous World Championship Sled Dog Race in a possible bid to add sprint mushing's richest race to his array of titles in long and middle distance sled dog races.
"I've been fascinated about going that fast with sled dogs for years," said King, 54. "I am beyond excited and am shopping for Spandex. I want to go 25 mph around the Rondy track before I get too old."
King debuted in the 1981 Iditarod and claimed his first championship a dozen years later.
"The day's gonna to come when I get tired of going 1,100 miles on a dog sled," King said. "But I can't see the day I'll ever get tired of getting on a sled."
Only the late Carl Huntington of Galana has managed to win both races, capturing the 1973 and 1977 Rondy championships as well as the 1974 Iditarod. Back then, dog training was far less refined and it took Huntington more than twice as long to reach Nome -- 20 days, 15 hours -- than modern-day champions require.
Perhaps no musher has won a broader array of races than King.
In addition to his Iditarod titles, the Denali Park musher has won the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest, the Copper Basin 300, the Knik 200 and the Kuskokwim 300 a record eight times.
But winning both Rondy and Iditarod in the modern era may be as daring a bid as Lance Mackey's double of back-to-back victories in the Yukon Quest and Iditarod, a feat he first accomplished in 2007.
Other prominent champions who failed to win both the Rondy and Iditarod include:
• George Attla, the 10-time Rondy champion who finished fourth in the 1973 Iditarod;
• Rick Swenson, the five-time Iditarod champion who last raced the Rondy in 1997 and finished near the back of the pack; and
• Roxy Wright, the three-time Rondy champion who finished 23rd in the 1983 Iditarod.
King's commitment -- official registrations begin Nov. 1 -- is the latest sign that the race's growing purse over the last few years is gaining notice.
"After we announced the purse, he was the first one we heard from," said Susan Duck, executive director of Fur Rendezvous. "He said, 'Sign me up.' "
King said the purse had no bearing on his interest, which was piqued by the Rondy's long history and the health of the race organization.
"The purse had absolutely no impact, because I'm not vying for the purse," he said.
These days, defending Rondy champion Blayne "Buddy" Streeper said, the specialized training might make it impossible for one racer to capture both races.
"No way," Streeper said, adding in jest, "Only if it was me."
The problem, he said, is getting a trotter to sprint.
"If you can run, you can walk -- but you can't go the other way. It's easy to make a fast dog tough, but you can't make a slow dog fast."
Three-time defending champions rule each race -- Fairbanks' Lance Mackey in the Iditarod and British Columbia's speedy Streeper in the Rondy.
Streeper so welcomed the competition he leased King a sprint team. Two teams from Streeper's kennel ran this February, finishing first and 10th.
"I get the second best -- but his second-best are way faster sprinters than my dogs," King said.
"I'm paying enough I don't want to be last, but I think it would be a little naive to think I would challenge those guys for victory unless all hell breaks loose."
Because of starkly different demands -- sprint dogs race 20-30 miles in less than two hours while distance dogs may top 100 miles day after day -- the athletes aren't interchangeable.
"Fur Rondy is the ultimate dog race," Streeper said in a press release. "To run through the streets of Anchorage in such a history-filled race with thousands of cheering fans -- I get goose bumps thinking of the event. I welcome Mr. King."
This February, Streeper staged a dramatic come-from-behind surge to nip Willow's Bill Kornmuller by nine seconds on the race's third and final day, overcoming a deficit of more than two minutes.
That sets up Streeper's bid next year to become the first musher to win four straight Rondy titles.
That may not be easy, but King doesn't expect Rondy's physical toll will tax him too much.
"If I'm not ready to dance all night after an hour on a dog sled, I don't know.
"I think I can stay within the limits of my ability. Alaska's my home and Fur Rondy is a mainstay of mushing in Alaska. I had to try it."
Reach reporter Mike Campbell at mcampbell@adn.com or 257-4329.
By MIKE CAMPBELL
mcampbell@adn.com