“Gobi rested on Day 4 and Day 5 due to the heat of the desert but waited for me at the finish line and I knew then this was no ordinary dog and experience”.
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After the race Leonard knew he couldn’t leave his furry friend behind. “It was unbelievable to see her stand up and start running towards me”, Mr Leonard said.
Leonard told BBC Radio that he first noticed the little dog running alongside him on stage two of the Gobi March, a 250km-long endurance test across the Gobi Desert that sounds frankly very bad.
A stray dog named Gobi followed a marathon runner on a almost 155-mile race through Chinese deserts and mountains.
“It was then that I realised this was something else other than a little dog following me”.
“I was amazed. I was amazed that such a small dog had such a big heart and could actually run as quick as she could”, Leonard told CTV News Channel Saturday from his home in Edinburgh. “When she came into camp she followed me straight into my tent, laid down next to me and that was that – a bond had been developed”.
Gobi, joined the race running 77 miles, the only reason why he didn’t run the whole thing was because of the warm temperatures reaching over 100 degrees.
“Gobi picked me to be her pal for life, so I am doing what I can with some great support from around the word to make this happen”. However, he soon learned adopting a foreign stray was no easy feat – Gobi’s quarantine, veterinary bills and adoption proceedings would cost over €5,000 (over $5,500 USD).
The online-funding project, called Bring Gobi Home, was launched by ultra-runner Dion Leonard.
It will take about four months to get Gobi cleared and sent to Leonard.
By the race’s end, Leonard was so so taken with Gobi that he decided he wanted to bring her home to Edinburgh, Scotland.
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Using the hashtag #bringgobihome, he has started fundraising for her “immigration fees” and has Facebook and Instagram pages set up for the cause. Having raised well over his goal, Leonard plans to donate the remaining funds to a dog shelter.
