The Chinese city of Urumqi has a population of three million people and uses languages completely foreign to Dion. While in Edinburgh waiting for Gobi to be cleared by the Chinese government, Dion received a devastating phone call Gobi had gone missing. All was in order for Gobi’s homecoming when, suddenly, the unthinkable happened. It was a wild success, leading Dion and Lucja to donate all excess funds to organizations that support stray dogs. In order to raise funds to bring Gobi with him to Edinburgh, Scotland, Dion established a crowdfunding campaign. Through thick and thin, Dion and Gobi survived together and had no intentions of parting ways at the finish line. Besides having completed a race requiring remarkable physical endurance together, they also overcame emotionally trying circumstances when tasked with saving a severely fatigued competitor, ultimately costing them first place in the race. Nevertheless, they grew close pretty quickly, with Dion aptly naming the pup, “Gobi.”īy the end of the race, Dion and Gobi were irrevocably bonded.
They took some time to warm up to each other, of course, as the dog had been attempting to chew apart Dion’s running gear.
By day two, Dion had crossed the Tian Shan Mountains and was met by that same little dog. The amused competitors fed her from their limited supply of self-provided food. On day one, Dion noticed a small dog tagging alongside other runners. In fact, it was this race that radically changed the trajectory of his life. After persevering through marathons in both France and South Africa, Dion eventually won second place during a race in the Gobi Desert of Northern China. Improving their fitness was their inspiration for starting the sport recreationally and then as race competitors. The story of Gobi and Dion bridges continents, ages, and media to deliver a universally inspiring message: compassion and determination aren’t unique to any one culture or species but born of our capacity to connect them.ĭion Leonard and his wife, Lucja, didn’t always love to run. It’s hard to believe that this moment would give way to the mobilization of hundreds of volunteers, international news features, meet-and-greets with world leaders, three books, a pending Hollywood film, and a lifelong friendship. It didn’t help that the scruffy little dog to which those paws belonged was also nipping at Dion’s shoes. The sand dunes Dion Leonard tread in Northern China’s Gobi Desert were barely wide enough to accommodate his own two feet, let alone the four paws that trailed behind him.
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