"GOBI" the Dog

Gobi March

4 Deserts Race Series (www.4deserts.com/gobimarch)

It was in the middle of Stage 2 of the Gobi March 2016 when Australian Dion Leonard noticed a small dog nipping at his yellow gaiters.   Leonard, who is based in Edinburgh, Scotland, had seen the dog hanging around camp the night before and earlier that morning at the Stage 2 start line. But it was during the stage that Leonard and the dog – who would become known as Gobi – first got to know each other.

 “Once we had begun the stage Gobi seemed to like the bright yellow colour of my gaiters and proceeded to run next to me,” said Leonard, who finished second in his first 4 Deserts race. “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.”

It was fellow Gobi March 2016 competitor Brendan Funk who was the first to notice Gobi on the opening stage of the race. “She saw me and just kept running,” Funk said. “First past the village, then over the dune and all the way to the end [of the stage]. I absolutely thought she would run off after a while, but every time she went ahead she would get about 15 metres in front, look at me and then either wait or circle back.”

After crossing the Stage 1 finish line, Gobi came into camp and never left. As the days went by, she quickly became the star of the race, with competitors sharing their carefully rationed food with the little dog and snapping plenty of photos with her. But it was Leonard who she stuck with the most.

 “I didn’t [adopt her], Gobi seemed to adopt me!” Leonard said. “The dog was more famous than anyone in the race. She was in everyone’s blogs and emails and was all over the race photos making her the star of the race.”

After she followed Leonard into his tent, she refused to sleep anywhere else and became his newest tentmate – and a protective one at that.

 “She was the best dog you could imagine – no barking, no biting, no chewing on things, no rooting through bags or stealing socks,” said Richard Henson, who shared a tent with Leonard and Gobi. “If one of us would get up in the middle of the night for a bathroom break, upon coming back into the tent, Gobi would let out a little growl until she confirmed who you were. If Dion got up, she would follow him and escort him there and back. It was a really special bond between Dion and Gobi.”

Henson and tentmates Allen Kerton and Mike Read noticed that the bond was so strong that they soon began to encourage Leonard to adopt Gobi and bring her to the UK with him.

 “As soon as I got back to the hotel after the race, I rang my wife and said to her ‘do you think our cat will mind if I bring Gobi home’?” Leonard said.

Leonard has since started the long and expensive process of bringing Gobi back to the UK. With estimated costs of up to GBP 5,000 and many Gobi March 2016 competitors looking to help, Leonard has set up a crowd funding page at http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/bring-gobi-home/. For now, Gobi remains in Urumqi and is being cared for by the Gobi March’s local manager, Medina.

4 Deserts Club member Derek Kwik is the Chairman of the SPCA in Hong Kong and is also helping Leonard in his efforts to bring Gobi home.

 “[The SPCA] is a society of experts in all things related to animal welfare,” Kwik said. Our reach extends to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department [in Hong Kong] which is also providing us with their opinion on how to deal with this matter. [The] relationship [between man and dog is one] forged over the history of mankind. Although, I must say the relationship formed between Dion and Gobi in such a compressed time is truly unique. The stories I have been told were very special.”

While dogs have followed competitors on past 4 Deserts races, this was the first time that a dog had been so fast and had completed so many stages.

“There was something about the little dog in the Gobi that captivated everyone,” 4 Deserts founder Mary Gadams said. “At the end of Stage 3 she was limping and actually threw up at the finish line so we took charge and banned her from moving until she rested and was checked out by a doctor. Gobi really became the race’s mascot – she embodied the same fighting spirit as the competitors. She also rarely barked and wasn’t very demanding so we all had to take the time to try and feed her and force her to drink water.”

While Gobi’s energetic spirit touched many of the competitors, she also embodied the race’s sense of team work and the competitors’ willingness to help others in need, especially when her small stature meant she required help herself. 

“On Stage 3 I had to carry Gobi across a wide river and then over a water sluice gate that she couldn’t have passed on her own,” Leonard said. “I went on to win this stage but at the time I was actually in third place and had a lot of work to do to catch up to the leaders. It’s fair to say that I didn’t really have the time to fetch and carry her, but I realised then I couldn’t leave her behind.”

Just as he did on Stage 3, Leonard is again doing everything he can to bring Gobi with him. This time, for good.

 

If you are interested in following Gobi’s journey home to the UK, then you can follow Dion Leonard @Oh_Yes_Please. Tag your photos of Gobi with #bringgobihome and donations to fund Gobi’s journey to the UK can be made at http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/bring-gobi-home/