Defending champion Blayne Streeper took a big step toward becoming the first musher to win five consecutive Fur Rendezvous World Championship Sled Dog Races with a solid finish Saturday that vaulted him into the lead after two heats of the three-day series.
Streeper, of British Columbia, started the day eight seconds behind first-day leader Arleigh Reynolds of Salcha.
He finished the day as the race leader with a 72-second gap over Egil Ellis, who won Saturday's heat to move into second place in the overall standings.
The day turned into a long one for Alaskan Sled Dog and Racing Association officials, who late Saturday night were investigating an incident between two mushers at 15th and Cordova. They were looking into claims that one of the mushers hit the other and shouted an obscenity while passing him.
A spectator told the Daily News that a number of people saw the incident and booed. Race officials and a radio announcer were also said to have been at the scene.
Reynolds, the winner of Friday's heat, posted the fastest time through the Tudor Road crossing Saturday.
But in the backstretch of the 25-mile course, Streeper and the three mushers closest to him -- Egil Ellis, Ken Chezik and Jason Dunlap -- began moving faster than Reynolds.
By the time the teams had moved through Campbell Airstrip, Streeper was posting the fastest times between checkpoints. He continued to do so until crossing the finish line right on the runners of John Erhart, who had left the starting line 10 minutes before him.
Streeper finished with the second-fastest run of the day, two seconds behind Ellis, of Willow.
But his combined time of 3 hours, 2 minutes, will be difficult for either Ellis, second with a time of 3:03:12, or Reynolds, who went from first to third with a two-day total of 3:04:27, to overcome.
Veteran George Attla, a nine-time Rondy champion and the only musher to win the three-day race without ever winning a heat, reviewed the results near the finish line.
"I came in second each day," he recalled of one of his championship years. Then he observed that Streeper might be able to do the same thing.
The long, straight, open stretch at Campbell Airstrip offered some of the most exciting viewing Saturday. As many as seven teams at a time could be seen on the former military runway, vying for advantage on the flat trail that afforded space to pass and the chance to pour on the speed.
Cold temperatures made the trail excellent, the mushers said, and that should hold for today. But a stiff wind that sometimes blew roof snow in swirling clouds on the street tested the fans who lined 4th Avenue.
Today's final heat begins at noon.
Fur Rondy race standings
Musher Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Total
1) Blayne Streeper 1:31:53 1:30:07 -- 3:02:00
2) Egil Ellis 1:33:07 1:30:05 -- 3:03:12
3) Arleigh Reynolds 1:31:45 1:32:42 -- 3:04:27
4) Ken Chezik 1:33:34 1:31:38 -- 3:05:12
5) Jason Dunlap 1:33:36 1:34:38 -- 3:08:14
6) Aaron Burmeister 1:35:27 1:34:42 -- 3:10:09
7) Marvin Kokrine 1:38:37 1:34:22 -- 3:12:59
8) Bill Kornmuller 1:37:47 1:37:03 -- 3:14:50
9) Brent Beck 1:39:23 1:35:34 -- 3:14:57
10) Ed Wood 1:39:43 1:37:22 -- 3:17:05
11) John Erhart 1:37:46 1:40:03 -- 3:17:49
12) Ryan Redington 1:42:51 1:39:30 -- 3:22:21
13) Will Kornmuller 1:42:40 1:40:08 -- 3:22:48
14) Jack Berry 1:45:42 1:40:37 -- 3:26:19
15) Ryan Housler 1:45:48 1:41:35 -- 3:27:23
16) Nathan Sterling 1:45:35 1:42:38 -- 3:28:13
17) Don Cousins 1:48:45 1:44:28 -- 3:33:13
18) Luke Sampson 1:41:56 1:55:40 -- 3:37:36
19) Randy DeKuiper 1:52:22 1:48:54 -- 3:41:16
20) Jake Berkowitz 1:52:48 1:48:42 -- 3:41:30
21) Nils Hahn 1:55:46 1:47:17 -- 3:43:03
-- ) Ricky Taylor 1:38:20 * -- 1:38:20
*scratched
Reader photos: Rondy past and present
By MIKE DUNHAM
mdunham@adn.com