Stray doggo joins ultra marathoner for 77 miles through the Gobi Desert, finishing the race a winner and a proud dog dad: 'Hang on, I'm coming too!'

Author image for Blake Seidel
Blake Seidel • Managing Editor & Brand Manager
Dec 14, 2025 10:00 AM EST

The only way you could get us to run any sort of marathon (let alone an ultra marathon) would be if a doggo accompanied us the whole way. If we had to finish the race in order to save the pupper, that would be motivation enough for us to get to the end. Otherwise, fat chance of us even thinking about it. But, apparently, it's not as rare of a situation as you might think! The ultra-marathoner below was running a cross-terrain race from China into the UK, and during a middle portion of his race, he encountered a stray dog.

This doggo ran with him for 77 miles. 77 miles! That's more than we've run in our entire lives. After deciding that it was too dangerous for the canine to continue, he gave the dog to a friend for safekeeping while he finished the race. Unfortunately, the dog, whom the runner named 'Gobi' got lost before he finished the race. No one is sure if it was lost of purpose or not, but that didn't stop this marathoner from giving up.

With the help of 20 volunteers, he found Gobi, adopted him, and took him back to Edinburgh. A tail of fate and chance, fighting against all odds, and a happy ending for everyone. Now that's what we call a heartwarming adoption story.

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    A man running an ultra- marathon was joined by a stray dog for more than 77 miles (125 km) through the Gobi Desert, but he lost track of the dog after the race. With
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    Cheezburger Image 10585680896
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    help from 20 volunteers, he finally found the dog after a two-week search, named him Gobi and brought him back to live in Edinburgh.
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    SunshineVF • 8h ago I'm reading the book now! I'm having a hard time putting it down. Great story and so far the details are worth reading even though you know the ending.
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    ChevChelios9941 • 8h ago . Was this the basis for the movie "Arthur the King"?
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    none-exist • 8h ago I think I'd rather stay in the desert
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  • We've never been to Edinburgh, but it certainly can't be worse than living alone in a desert. Dogs don't care about a lot of things, they mainly care about having someone who loves them. As long as they have that, they could live anywhere.

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    TooBored ToLiveLife • 8h ago I would have ended the marathon instead of finishing it first.
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    Just-Do-It-Lady · 7h ago The movie Arthur the King is based off this story! It's actually a good movie and you'll definitely cry a little lol
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    Cariffria 5h ago Guess that's one way to get a running buddy
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    Zippier92 4h ago Good doggie!
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    ThatFilthyApe Recently read the book (listened to "Finding Gobi" while running, to be precise). Good story, interweaves a bit about the runner growing up with the multi-stage ultramarathon across the Gobi Desert and then the challenges getting the dog from China into the UK, especially after the race managers lost the dog (or intentionally misplaced the dog, it's left a little unclear).
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    Good story, nice to read about a dog where he doesn't do! Amazing reading how Dion is running across the desert, doing a full marathon a day in over 100F weather at around 6:00- 6:30 pace and the dog is keeping up. At one point despite being unexpectedly in
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    competition to win the whole thing he decides to turn around and re-cross a river that's too wide and deep for the little guy. The dog doesn't finish the race in part because they decide it's unsafe for the dog to run the last stages where the temperature approaches 130F.
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  • What a pawsitively incredible story. First, the dog runs for over 70 miles with a stranger, then gets lost, then found, then brought back to another country? All while surviving in the desert heat? This dog is stronger than we'll ever be.

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    AgnosticUnicorn I am absolutely tickled at the thought of this dog laying there, suddenly he sees this strangely dressed guy run across his view... and in typical dog fashion, just gets up and joins in! "Hey buddy, what are you doing?! ... HANG ON I'M COMING TOO!!"
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    I_are_facepalm I ran a 50 mile ultra and I can tell you that I didn't care about any other living creatures by mile 40. This must have been the goodest of bois.
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    princessaurus_rex The real hero is the guys employer who let him 1) take time off to travel and run the ultra marathon 2) take a sabbatical to go find the dog and quarantine with the dog in China 3) guy quits immediately after getting a book/movie deal.
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    Casper_The_Ghost this seems to happen more often then you would think
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    Stray dog who raced 430 miles to a better home: Arthur latched on to an extreme sports team during Amazon race - and what happened next will melt the hardest heart Team Peak Performance were sat down for a meal before a 20 mile trek in
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    Ecuador when they saw a stray dog Swedish group were taking part in the Adventure Racing World Championship through the Amazon rain forest Mikael Lindnord fed the animal a meatball before the team carried on - but the scruffy creature followed them They tried to get
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    rid of him, primarily for his own safety, but he refused to go so he became a fifth team member The group of four decided to name him Arthur and have now adopted him and flown him back to Sweden Lindord said: 'I came to Ecuador to win the World Championship. Instead, I got a new friend'
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    NickWindsoar • 8h ago Alternative theory; dog heroically chases intruder from his land only to be kidnapped and forced relationship with the very man he has chased away.
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    Bionic69 Got my dose of good clean internet wholesomeness for the day. Thanks.
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    PolyJuicedRedHead · 8h ago How was he able to import a foreign dog into his own country? (by 'foreign dog', I do not mean anything derogatory. Please. Don't hate me because I'm beautiful.)
    via PolyJuicedRedHead

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dogs stray dogs marathon dog dad animals
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