Kade Lovell was competing at the St. Francis Xavier Franny Flyer 5K in Sartell just over one week ago when he was told, as he approached 3.1 miles, to keep on going by a spectator who believed he was taking part in the longer race.

Realising that her son wasn’t at the designated finish line for the 5K, Kade’s mother, Heather Lovelly, became increasingly distressed and alerted officials: “I had everyone looking for him, even a fireman. I was like, ‘You need to go find my son. I was bawling. This had never happened before.”

The message soon circulated, however, that a young runner was doing exceptionally well in the longer race and as she made her way to the end of the 10K route, realised that it was her son. Heather believed that he had finished first in his age group, yet organisers were quick to inform her that he had won the race.

After the event, Kade’s mother commented on what turned out to be her son’s winning, if unplanned, strategy: “He actually probably did better than he normally does because he was trying to finish and in panic mode.”