With his dogs averaging three-minute miles, Michael Tetzner zoomed to victory Sunday in the inaugural Fur Rendezvous Invitational.
Tetzner and his team of 12 sled dogs broke the nine-minute barrier for the second day in a row. They made the 3.05-mile dash from Fourth Avenue to Anchorage Football Stadium and back in 8 minutes, 53 seconds.
That was the fastest run in the three-day Invitational, a last-minute competition created to take the place of the Open World Championship. The traditional Rondy race was canceled last week because rain and warm weather wiped out hopes of putting in a cross-town race course suitable for sprint mushing teams.
Tetzner, who logged a first-day 9:47 and a second-day 8:59, finished with a three-day total time of 27:39. He won all three heats decisively.
He blew past the rest of the field, forging a lead of more than two minutes over runner-up Rick Taylor, who clocked 29:31.
Taylor, who started the day in third place, moved past Mari Hoe Raitto by driving his team to Sunday's third-fastest time, 9:19. Raitto held onto third place with a three-day total time of 29:57.
James Wheeler was six seconds back in 30:03, thanks to his sizzling Sunday run of 9:14 that carried him from sixth place to fourth.
A field of 20 mushers raced for a $25,000 purse.
Fur Rendezvous Invitational
Final results (three-day total times)
1) Michael Tetzner 27:39; 2) Rick Taylor 29:31; 3) Mari Hoe Raitto 29:57; 4) James Wheeler 30:03; 5) John Erhart 30:23; 6) tie, Amy Dunlap and Jack Berry 31:24; 8) Nikki Seo 31:34; 9) tie, Ken Chezik and Mark Hartum 31:40; 11) Jason Dunlap 31:50; 12) George Attla III 32:57; 13) Gary Markley 33:17; 14) Charlie Jordan 33:22; 15) Luke Sampson 33:30; 16) Craig Thomas 34:04; 17) Tabitha Nardini 34:21; 18) Kelvin Hall 37:03; 19) Carl Knutson 37:54; 20) J.P. Norris 37:57.