Young Boy's Fear Of Mom Helps Him Accidentally Win 10K Race

October 2, 2019

Kade Lovell signed up to run a 5k, but after missing a turn, he ended up running a 10k -- and winning!

Last weekend, Heather Lovell was standing along the St. Francis Franny Flyer 5K route in Sartell, Minnesota.

She was waiting for her 9-year-old son Kade to pass by.

When Heather didn't see Kade when she expected to, she began to worry and panic.

"I had everyone looking for him, even a fireman. I was like, 'You need to go find my son'," Heather told the St. Cloud Times. "I was bawling. This had never happened before."

Apparently, a volunteer had told Kade to go the wrong way and he wound up on the longer course.

"I was a little confused, but I was like, 'Okay, I'm just going to listen to her. I'm just going to listen'," Kade told CNN.

Finally, a spectator told Heather that they'd spotted Kade on the 10K course and that he seemed to be running really well.

Eventually he realized his mistake and wanted to make it back as soon as he could because "his mom was going to yell at him."

"I thought my mom was going to be worried, and when she gets worried, she starts to get a little angry," Kade said as his mom laughed in the background. "So, I thought she was going to be worried and a little angry."

Kade crossed the finish line with a time of 48:17.4. A race coordinator told Heather that Kade had won the race.

"I was like, 'First in his age group?'" Heather recalled. "And she was like, 'No, first overall!'"

Kade had never run a 10K and hadn't even gone 6.2 miles in practice.

"It was an emotional roller coaster," Heather said. "First I'm scared, then I'm angry, then I'm excited when we found out he wins, and you're just relieved, too," she said.

"He actually probably did better than he normally does because he was trying to finish and in panic mode."