British veteran Jack Jarvis is running 13,000 km from Beijing to London for a £1M brain tumor charity. In Xinjiang's Gobi Desert he rescued a kitten named Gobi, echoing a 2016 rescue.
Tags:Source: OT-Team(G), 封面新闻
A video of a British runner rescuing a stray kitten in Xinjiang's Gobi Desert has gone viral on Chinese social media. The runner is 32-year-old British veteran Jack Jarvis, who is currently running from Beijing to London in an extraordinary challenge spanning Eurasia.
On October 6, when Jarvis reached the desert near Turpan, Xinjiang, he came across a tiny kitten by the roadside. The encounter disrupted his grueling running schedule but led to an unexpected rescue—and a surprising connection to another British runner who found a stray animal in the same desert 10 years ago. Both gave their rescued animals the same name: Gobi.
Reporters spoke with Cao Chenjia, Jarvis's accompanying interpreter, to learn more about the rescue and the endurance challenge that is still underway.
British Runner Finds a Kitten in Xinjiang's Gobi Desert
Jarvis, 32, is a British military veteran who previously served in the Royal Engineers and passed the selection process for the Royal Marines Commandos. After leaving the military, he became an endurance athlete, taking on challenges that test the limits of human physical ability. He is also a social media creator.
In August, Jarvis set off from Tiananmen Square in Beijing on a planned 13,000-kilometer run to London. The route will take him through 18 countries, with the English Channel crossing to be made by ferry. He aims to run more than 50 kilometers a day, completing the journey in eight to 10 months before reaching Trafalgar Square in London.
The challenge aims to raise £1 million for a UK brain tumor charity. Jarvis's grandfather died of a brain tumor in 2007.
On October 6, while running through the Gobi Desert near Turpan in Xinjiang, Jarvis spotted a kitten by the roadside in an otherwise desolate area. The kitten appeared to be only a few weeks old. No owner or mother cat was in sight, and a small carton of milk had been left nearby.
Jarvis said the kitten appeared terrified. Yet, rather than running away, it walked straight toward him.
“I would never leave it there to die,” he said as he picked it up.
The kitten was taken aboard the team's support vehicle. The team gave it water and crushed egg to eat before naming it Gobi, after the desert where it was found.
Jarvis posted a video of the encounter on social media, and it quickly attracted widespread attention.
However, bringing Gobi to the UK would not be straightforward. The kitten was too young to receive the required vaccinations and was not yet eligible to complete the procedures needed to enter the country, including microchipping, quarantine-related requirements and antibody testing.
Jarvis eventually decided to leave Gobi with an animal rescue organization in Urumqi. The kitten would then be transferred to a rescue organization in Harbin while its vaccinations and other required procedures were completed. Jarvis hopes to bring it to his home in the UK once the arrangements are in place.
Cao told reporters that Jarvis personally drove the kitten to Urumqi after running dozens of kilometers that day. The round trip took about four hours.
The Same Desert, the Same Name—10 Years Apart
When Jarvis picked up the kitten and named it Gobi, he may not have known that another British runner had rescued a stray animal in the same desert a decade earlier—and given it exactly the same name.
In June 2016, British ultrarunner Dion Leonard traveled to Xinjiang to take part in a desert ultramarathon.
On the second day of the race, a stray dog appeared beside Leonard and began running with him. The dog accompanied him for 125 kilometers, crossing the Tianshan Mountains and traversing the desert. At night, it even crawled into his tent to sleep beside him.
Leonard named the dog Gobi, after the desert.
After the race, Leonard decided to bring Gobi back to Edinburgh, Scotland. However, while arrangements for the dog's quarantine and entry into the UK were underway, Gobi went missing in Urumqi.
Leonard flew back to China to search for the dog, joined by a large number of local volunteers. After 17 days, Gobi was finally found, with injuries to its head and legs.
In 2017, Gobi was reunited with Leonard in Edinburgh. Leonard later wrote a book about their story, Finding Gobi, which has been translated into 17 languages and sold internationally.
When reporters told Cao about the earlier rescue, she was surprised by the coincidence.
“Oh my God, I never imagined our story would turn out to have such an extraordinary connection,” she said.
“We never expected this coincidence. We found the kitten in the Gobi Desert and simply called it Gobi. It was just a very simple idea,” Cao said.
'Every Day Is a Marathon': Jarvis's Endurance on the Road
Cao described Jarvis as responsible and kind, but said his perseverance impressed her most.
In 2023, Jarvis suffered a skydiving accident that severely tore the ligaments in his knee. It took him more than 18 months to fully recover.
“After such a serious injury, he still wants to keep challenging the limits of human endurance. I find that truly remarkable,” Cao said.
Jarvis has previously completed another extraordinary endurance feat. In December 2021, he set off alone from Lagos, Portugal, to row across the Atlantic Ocean. After 111 days, 12 hours and 22 minutes, he reached Stuart, Florida, in the United States.
The journey earned him Guinness World Records recognition as the first person to row nonstop from mainland Europe to mainland North America.
His current run across Eurasia is proving equally demanding.
According to Cao, Jarvis usually gets up at around 4 a.m. and runs to the first meeting point, covering 20 to 25 kilometers before receiving supplies from the support team. The team then meets him every 10 to 20 kilometers to provide more supplies. He typically runs until around 11 a.m. or noon before resting in the afternoon.
Road closures and traffic restrictions sometimes prevent support vehicles from reaching him directly. The team has to take detours along expressways and wait at service areas for him to arrive.
“Sometimes we have to stop temporarily on the expressway and throw supplies over to him. He runs over from an adjacent national highway, picks them up and continues,” Cao said.
On one particularly difficult day, Jarvis ran continuously from 2 a.m. until around 1 or 2 p.m., covering 90 kilometers in approximately 12 hours.
“All the roads were closed that day, and we couldn't get close enough to provide supplies. We could only leave some provisions midway along the route, and he relied on those to complete the 90 kilometers,” Cao said.
“I was shocked, and I couldn't help tearing up.”
From Xinjiang to London
Jarvis is still in Xinjiang. According to the current schedule, he is expected to need approximately another two weeks to reach the Khorgos border crossing and leave China.
He plans to enter Kazakhstan around November before continuing through Central Asia and Eastern Europe on his way to London.
For now, his journey through China has taken an unexpected turn. A tiny kitten found in the vast Xinjiang desert has become part of his ongoing challenge, while the shared name Gobi has connected his rescue story with another remarkable encounter in the same part of China 10 years earlier.