Stray dog completes 1700km journey across China

A stray dog has completed a remarkable 1700km journey across China after joining a cycle race from Sichuan province to Tibet. The dog, nicknamed “Xiaosa”, joined the cyclists after one of them gave him food. It ran with them for 24 days, covering up to 60km a day, and climbing 12 mountains. The little white stray showed incredible determination to run for 24 days and complete a 1,100-mile bike race across China. Her journey started when one of the cyclists, Zhang Heng, 22, gave her food on highway G318 in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. After that, she refused to stop following. Since then she’s become a celebrity in her homeland and a micro blog recording her life online has attracted more than 37,000 followers in two weeks. On Thursday night more than 4,000 comments on a micro blog online were left congratulating her after a picture was posted of Xiao Sa in the arms of her new friend in front of the Llasa’s Potala Palace. Mr Heng, a student in Wuhan, Hubei province, had decided to cycle to Llasa as a graduation trip with friends when he met a lonely dog. ‘She was lying, tired, on the street around Yajiang, Sichuan province,’ he told China Daily. ‘So we fed her, and then she followed our team. They thought she was following for fun, but found she insisted on sticking around them day and night. ‘We felt she might want to come along with us, so we decided to bring her along to the end.’