Iowa superintendent and former Olympian bested in footrace by 5th-grader
https://www.npr.org/2024/05/18/1252245744/iowa-superintendent-and-former-olympian-bested-in-footrace-by-5th-grader
Iowa superintendent and former Olympian bested in footrace by 5th-grader
MAY 18, 2024 5:01 AM ET
By Alana Wise
Des Moines Superintendent Ian Roberts races students on an Iowa track.
Phil Roeder/Des Moines Public Schools
It seemed like it should be an easy win for Des Moines Superintendent Ian Roberts to dust off his racing shoes and compete against a team of elementary schoolers.
The 47-year-old Guyanese runner's skills had taken him around the globe, after all, even competing in the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney.
"I showed up to the school, and I'm waiting there. And I saw the principal and teachers and they brought the entire school out to the track. And I'm thinking, 'oh,'" Roberts recalled with a laugh.
What was initially going to be a race between Roberts and Everett Clark, a lucky second-grader who won the chance to race Roberts in a raffle, had grown as more students decided to join. Soon the student body flanked the track.
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