Team Peak Performance says that after six days, they “crossed the finish line with 5 members instead of 4 as the 12th top team in the world.” Krister Goransson/Peak Performance

This takes us back to our Patagonia Expedition Race days. Thanks to National Public Radio (USA) for this reminder of what sometimes counts as the secret ingredient of teamwork in situations that require extraordinary endurance:

After a stray dog in Ecuador met a team of Swedish adventure athletes, he grew so attached to the squad that he ran for miles and swam along to keep up with them. Now Arthur the dog is world-famous — and it all started with a meatball.

Sweden’s Peak Performance team was in Ecuador this month to compete in the Adventure Racing World Championship, in which athletes hike, kayak, and bike during a 430-mile endurance race through the Amazonian rain forest. It’s the kind of race where athletes try to keep moving day and night (see an example).

Just before starting one stage, the team’s Mikael Lindnord made friends with a dog, sharing a meatball with him. Lindnord thought that would be the end of it — but then the dog followed him, and essentially forced his way onto the team.

Swedish endurance athlete Mikael Lindnord managed to get Arthur, a dog his team befriended in Ecuador, to come home with him. Krister Goransson/Peak Performance

The rest of the story is told through photos of the Peak Performance group’s trek, as updates on their Facebook page show the four athletes making their way through mud and rough terrain, now joined by the dog they named Arthur. And when they had to use kayaks, Arthur swam alongside, refusing to be left behind.

Here’s how the team summed up that day:

“The organization gave the advice not to bring dog Arthur out on the last leg — a dog in the kayak didn’t seem like a great idea — and the team was going to follow this advice…

Read the whole story here.