A 9-year-old boy won a 10k race in Minnesota that he didn't even know he was competing in
- A nine-year-old boy from Minnesota has won a 10k race that he didn't even know he was competing in.
- Kade Lovell was supposed to be running a 5k charity race in Sartell, when he was accidentally sent on the wrong path by a volunteer.
- "The 5k turn was right," Lovell told television station Kare 11. "But the girl came in and said 'Keep running straight.' So I kept running straight."
- Lovell went on to beat 66 other competitors to win the race, finishing with a time of 48 minutes and 17 seconds.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
"Nine-year-old boy wins 10k race in Minnesota."
As a headline on its own it sounds fairly remarkable, but what makes Kade Lovell's victory in the long-distance charity event last month extra special was that he didn't even know he was competing in it.
Lovell, an avid runner from the small city of Sartell, set out to participate in the ninth annual St. Francis Franny Flyer 5k on the morning of September 21.
After a strong first half of the race - the one he intended to run - the youngster came to a junction, where 5k runners would go one way, and 10k runners, the other.
"The 5k turn was right," Lovell told television station Kare 11. "But the girl came in and said 'Keep running straight.' So I kept running straight."
The volunteer's mistake however turned out to be young Lovell's gain, as he went on to win the 10k race, crossing the line with a finish time of 48 minutes and 17 seconds.
Kade's mother, Heather, said she was worried when her son didn't turn up at the finish line for his 5k, but was eventually delighted to find out that he'd beaten the competition in the day's longer race.
"So I went up there, and the lady was like 'Yeah, he won!'" she said. "And I'm thinking 'Oh, he won his age group', and she was like 'No, out of all of the 10k runners. He just won.'"
Kade, who beat 66 other competitors to claim his medal, is now training for the Junior Olympics in Wisconsin in December, according to The New York Times.
Read more: