Buddy Streeper is 25 miles away from owning a piece of Fur Rendezvous history.
Streeper extended his lead in the Open World Championship sled dog race on Saturday, turning in the day’s second-fastest time to build on his first-day lead.
If he can ward off his pursuers with a third straight fast, clean run Sunday on Anchorage streets and trails, he will earn his eighth Fur Rondy championship.
That would match the number of titles won by Roland “Doc” Lombard, Rondy’s second-winningest musher.
Lombard, a veterinarian from Massachusetts, won his eight championships during the 1960s and 1970s, when he and nemesis George Attla of Huslia ruled the sprint mushing world. Their rivalry made them two of Alaska’s biggest celebrities, and it helped push Attla to a Rondy-record 10 championships.
Streeper, a 38-year-old from Fort Nelson, British Columbia, drove 15 dogs Saturday, down from 18 on Friday.
He finished 20 seconds slower than second-day winner Greg Taylor of Fairbanks, who ran 16 dogs.
Taylor made the 25-mile run from Fourth Avenue to Bicentennial Park and back in 90 minutes, 13 seconds. Streeper clocked 90:33.
Saturday’s third-fastest run came from 18-year-old Mya Hartum, a rookie from Tofield, Alberta, who drove her team of 14 dogs to a time of 91:46.
Streeper took a commanding lead Friday with a run of 86:18, the day’s fastest by nearly two minutes.
His two-day total time of 2 hours, 56 minutes, 51 seconds, puts him nearly three minutes ahead of Taylor, who is second overall. Taylor, who finished fourth Friday, has a two-day total of 2:59:40.
Trailing them in third-place with a time of 3:02:05 is Rondy staple Marvin Kokrine of North Pole, a 64-year-old who’s doing his 27th race. Kokrine had Saturday’s third-best time, 91:46, to move up from sixth place.
Hartum is fourth overall at 3:02:45.
Amy Dunlap of Salcha, who was second Friday in 88:27, encountered troubles Saturday and fell all the way to 21st place overall.
Two mushers scratched before Saturday’s run and a third — distance mushing great Lance Mackey of Fairbanks — did not finish his second run.
Racing begins at noon Sunday on Fourth Avenue. Mushers will leave in two-minute intervals in the reverse order of the overall standings, meaning Streeper’s team will be the last one on the trail.