Finding Gobi: The True Story of a Little Dog and an Incredible Journey About the Author Dion Leonard is an Australian who lives in Edinburgh, Scotland. He has competed in some of the world’s toughest ultra marathons across inhospitable landscapes including running across the brutal Moroccan Sahara desert twice in the 250km Marathon Des Sables and twice across South Africa's Kalahari Desert. Dion's latest race across the Gobi Desert in China turned out to be extraordinary. He fell in love with a stray dog that followed him during the week, changing both of their lives forever.