9-YEAR-OLD RUNNER WINS WRONG—AND LONGER—RACE

SARTELL, MINNESOTA—IT took 9-year-old Kade Lovell longer than expected to finish his 5-kilometer race in Minnesota, but only because he was accidentally winning a separate 10-km race.

Lovell’s mother became worried when he did not cross the finish line of the Francis Franny Flyer 5 kilometers in Sartell on Sept. 21. The St. Cloud Times reports she drove along the 5-km route looking for him and was “bawling” when no one else saw him, either.

“I had everyone looking for him, even a fireman,” Heather Lovell said. “I was like, ‘You need to go find my son.’”

Then, a spectator called Heather Lovell’s brother-inlaw, who was in the 10-km race, to let him know there was a “little kid who was running really well” in the 10-km race.

Kade said a woman told him to keep going when he approached the 5-km turn so he did, despite his confusion.

‘So I kept going straight’

“A lady told me to keep going straight. So I kept going straight,” he said.

Race organizers told Kade’s mother he finished in first place and she thought they meant in his age group.

But he was first-place overall. He finished in just over 48 minutes—a minute faster than the 40-year-old second-place contestant.

“He actually probably did better than he normally does because he was trying to finish and in panic mode,” Heather Lovell said.

Even though he’s only 9 years old, Kade is already an experienced runner. He started running with a cross country club when he was 6.