Runner reunites with stray ultramarathon dog after search mission

‪#‎bringGobihome‬. Read the amazing story of "Gobi" the dog that won the hearts of all the ‪#‎GobiMarch‬ 2016 competitors when she completed the race with them. Competitor Dion Leonard formed a particularly special bond and is adopting Gobi and taking her back to his home town of Scotland where she can continue to run free. If you would like to help Dion with this have a look at his crowd funding page: http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/bring-gobi-home http://bit.ly/2aGGRhx #4Deserts #AtacamaCrossing #GobiMarch

A photo posted by 4 Deserts Race Series (@4deserts) on Jul 26, 2016 at 12:06am PDT

The bond between an Australian ultrarunner and a stray dog in China captured the hearts of running fans after the story went viral in early August. The dog then went missing while in the stages of being adopted by the ultrarunner which resulted in a week-long search mission. The story has a happy ending as the dog has been found.

RELATED: Five tips for running with your dog in the summer.

Dion Leonard, an ultrarunner based in Scotland, was running in the Gobi March in China when a stray dog began running alongside participants. The dog, later named Gobi, grew fond of Leonard and ran 120K of the 250K race with him and stayed in his tent at night during the six-stage, seven-day event.

The two formed a strong connection and Leonard decided to adopt the stray dog with plans to bring Gobi back to Scotland. The runner returned home following the June race while Gobi stayed in China. On Aug. 15, while being looked after in Urumqi, China, Gobi escaped just before she was scheduled to go to Beijing to begin steps in the adoption process, according to NPR.

A social campaign was created with the hashtag #BringGobiHome. Leonard flew to China from Scotland to aid in the search.

Video of the backstory

With the help of locals in Urumqi, a city of 3.1 million people, Gobi was found thanks to a man who spotted the lost dog in a park. The local who found Gobi contacted Leonard and the ultrarunner confirmed it was Gobi that had been found when he visited the man’s house.

We bloody well found her!!! pic.twitter.com/tIw5fEIDIg

— Dion Leonard (@Oh_Yes_Please) August 24, 2016

“Gobi spotted me as soon as I walked in, and she started running toward me,” Leonard told the Washington Post. “Literally, she was running up my leg and jumping all over me and squealing with delight.”

Leonard says that it was hard to stay positive during the search as days passed with no sight of Gobi. The ultrarunner says that he hopes to have Gobi home by Christmas as the canine requires 120 days of quarantine in Beijing.