Sprint sled dog race through Anchorage

The annual sled dog sprint competition at Fur Rendezvous billed as the Open World Championship usually features three consecutive days of racing on a 26-mile course, with teams powered by as many as 20 rocketing dogs.

Nothing is the usual this year, though.

Not the distance, not the course, not the conditions, not the format, not the start procedure, not the size of the teams, not the purse and not the race’s name.

Yet, in a wonderfully stubborn attempt to salvage something meaningful from the nearly snow-free conditions and warm temperatures that have plagued outdoor winter sports in general and reduced local dog trails to ice in particular, Rondy organizers unveiled truncated racing Friday afternoon.