It took nine-year-old Kade Lovell longer than expected to finish his 5km race in Minnesota, but only because he was busy accidentally winning a separate 10km event.

Kade’s mother, Heather, became worried when her son didn’t cross the finish line of the Francis Franny Flyer 5K in Sartell earlier this month. The St Cloud Times reports she drove along the route looking for him and found herself “bawling” when he appeared to have gone missing. “I had everyone looking for him, even a fireman,” Heather Lovell said. “I was like, ‘You need to go find my son.”’

Eventually, a spectator phoned Heather Lovell’s brother-in-law, who was in the 10km race, to let him know there was a “little kid who was running really well” in the 10km event. Kade said a woman told him to keep going when he approached the 5km turn and he did, despite his confusion. “A lady told me to keep going straight. So I kept going straight,” he said.

Race organizers told Kade’s mother he had won. Initially she thought they meant he had won 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 is only nine-years-old, Kade is already an experienced runner. He started running with a cross country club when he was six.