Streeper's pedigree makes him Fur Rondy champ
By KEVIN KLOTT
Anchorage Daily News
Published: February 26, 2007
Last Modified: February 26, 2007 at 11:07 PM
With a pair of Canadian flags flapping in the cool Alaska air, pinned to the brush bow of his sled, Blayne Streeper crossed Fourth Avenue and D Street on Sunday a Rondy champion.
But after proudly accepting a gold pan for winning the 57th Fur Rendezvous Open World Championship Sled Dog Race, the 25-year-old from Fort Nelson, British Columbia, stepped off a flat-bed trailer, which doubled as a podium, and took on the role of sprint mushing ambassador.
"Let's build this thing up to what it used to be," he told the Fourth Avenue crowd that watched Streeper win his second Rondy title in dominating fashion.
In three days of racing the 25-mile course that runs along the Anchorage streets and trails, Streeper and his German short-haired pointers won all three heats and $7,700 of the $35,000 purse.
"That team performed so well today," he said. "We've been raising dogs for 30 years to build championship-quality teams."
Streeper drove 75 miles superbly, finishing in 4 hours, 15 minutes, 49 seconds and beating Bill Kornmuller of Willow by more than 10 minutes.
Kornmuller, 54, finished in 4:26:08 and earned his best showing in 11 years of Rondy racing to take home $6,212.50.
Four-time champion Egil Ellis finished 46 seconds behind his Willow neighbor for third in 4:26:54. The Swedish 35-year-old finished second in two of three heats and finished strong to earn $5,250.
In Saturday's second heat, Ellis dropped from second to third overall after stopping his team three times to load dogs.
"We had to get a decent finish after that mess," he said.
Streeper never stopped to untangle his team, load a dog or change leaders. Three perfect runs was almost overwhelming.
"I wish we could run another day," he said. "They were running so hard, it was just a thrill to be on that team."
Streeper posted one of the fastest Day 1 runs in Rondy history on Friday. His team blazed the course in 1:23:36 with Dee, his superstar female, in lead.
The 6-year-old was his leader in the 2004 Rondy when he knocked off Ellis.
But Streeper was so confident of his 6:32 lead heading into the final heat, he used Donna, a 3-year-old female, in lead for the first time, along with Miya.
"She (Dee) got me around the first two days, so it was time to move forward," he said.
Traveling long distances in search of victory runs in Streeper's blood.
Three weeks ago, he won the Isle aux Coudres in Montreal -- more than 3,000 miles from Anchorage. Though he won the three-day, 36-miler, snow conditions in Quebec weren't ideal.
But in Anchorage, conditions were perfect.
"Anchorage said, 'We're having a race,' " Streeper said. "So we pointed the truck north and never stopped driving for 10 days."
Streeper and his father, Terry, practically live in their well-traveled black-and-yellow Ford F-450 that has "Streeper Kennels" written in bold green letters above the dog boxes. They stay at hotels and eat restaurant food three times a day.
But now the Streepers will catch their breath by staying in Alaska for the next six weeks, awaiting the Open North American Championship in Fairbanks next month and the Arctic Circle Championship in Kotzebue in April.
"This is my work, and I'm a professional," Streeper said.
But seven years ago -- when Streeper was fresh out of high school -- he wasn't sure if professional sprint racing was his calling, despite the family's involvement. His father, at one time, was one of the top- rated sprint mushers in the world. So was his uncle, "Fast" Eddy Streeper, who won Rondy in 1987 and 1985.
In addition to racing dogs, "Buddy" grew up playing golf. Terry manages a golf course in Fort Nelson and his son became so savvy on the links, he earned a scholarship to a community college in Texas, he said.
He was on the team with four other Canadians, but soon he realized his true passion wasn't driving golf carts.
"My heart was with the dogs," he said.
He traveled back to Canada and has raced professionally ever since. Competing against golfers and mushers was drastically different, he said.
"Golf, you're out there on your own. It's just you, and there's no coaches," he said. "Here (mushing), it's a group effort. It's way more satisfying because you get the team camaraderie.
"Each (dog) has strengths and weaknesses, but when you can get everything together and make a unit, that's when teams perform their best."
Though Streeper once represented Canada in golf internationally, he prefers to represent sprint mushing -- the lesser-known sport.
"Summertimes are a little fun with the golf," he said. "But it's our breeding and raising the pups that makes this team as strong as it is today.
"My business and my lifestyle are the dogs."
Daily News reporter Kevin Klott can be reached at kklott@adn.com or 257-4335.
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