Dog completes half-marathon in Australian Outback, gets finisher’s medal

Stray dog named Stormy runs half-marathon in outback Australia, rewarded with medal for his efforts–records a 2:30:00, wins division. #boop #doggo https://t.co/mrUlvEjOe7 pic.twitter.com/dEKzL73KoP

— Boston Marathon Pro (@BostonMar_Pro) July 31, 2018

A stray dog named Stormy, who won hearts when he ran the complete Goldfields Pipeline half-marathon in Australia on July 22 (in approximately two hours and a half hours) has ended up in the dog pound.

Today’s edition of Firstpost describes how Stormy made numerous friends before the race started, then ran with various individuals after the gun went off (having no commitments that day, being, you know, a stray).

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The story quotes race director Grant Wholey describing how Stormy came from a local Aboriginal community but did not have a clear owner. Park rangers picked him up after the race when no one claimed him, and Wholey went to present him with a finisher’s medal a few days later in the hopes of attracting publicity and, hopefully, his rightful owner. It’s expected he’ll be put up for adoption, and the friends he made during the race might have to fight over who gets to take him home.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bdb-GBSD9Vx/?tagged=goldfieldspipeline

Apparently Wholey decided to overlook one of the race’s rules, which states explicitly that “No dogs, horses or other animals are permitted to accompany runners, they may obstruct other runners and they are not permitted in the Kalgoorlie Golf course.” 

The race consists of a full marathon, half-marathon and 10K, all run on bush trails alongside the Goldfields water pipeline, finishing at the Kalgoorlie golf course, about 600K from Perth in Western Australia.

Another note of warning in the race’s manual concerns the water pipe itself: “On sections of the course, if the water pipe is leaking, do not attempt to run through puddles or water spraying from the pipe. The puddles could be deeper than anticipated and water spraying can contain grit and other foreign bodies.”