Ki Chi race winner had to lose a lot before he won

For Chisago City resident David Crawford, the Ki Chi Saga Days celebration has always been a time of celebration. A time for fun with his grandkids. A time to enjoy watching his oldest grandson, Marjace Crawford, run in the Ki Chi Saga Days 5K run. This year’s Ki Chi Saga Days wasn’t an enjoyable time for David or Marjace, or Jace as he likes to be called. On Monday, Aug. 13, a little less than a week before the event was to start, David’s daughter and Jace’s mother, Danielle Hammond, passed away unexpectedly. Hammond was a single mother of four – 18-year-old Jace, 14-year-old Jared, nine-year old Lexi and four-year-old Gabby – living in Coon Rapids. “Danielle was a wonderful woman,” David said. “She worked for [Minneapolis Mayor R.T.] Rybak at one point. She was valuable to society.” David said Jace and his siblings were over at his house in Chisago City often, whether it was for fishing, swimming, bowling, just hanging out, or in Jace’s case, running. A few years ago, Jace began running 5Ks as training for his track career at Coon Rapids High School. The second 5K that Jace competed in was the Ki Chi Saga Days race in 2010. He finished in fifth place with a time of 23:00. In 2011, he trimmed almost two minutes and finished in a time of 21:09, but he still finished in fifth place. Fast forward to 2012 and Jace headed to the race with a heavy heart. He told his grandpa that he was dedicating the race to his mom and was going to give it his all. “Throughout the week, my emotions were building,” Jace said. “I didn’t expect to win, but if I could, it would be unbelievable. I had to do this race for my mom.” Although Hammond had never seen Jace run a 5K, she had watched him compete in some of his track meets at Coon Rapids.

Jace believes his mom was able to see this 5K. “I know she was looking down on me,” he said. The race was close throughout, but as it came down to last few blocks, Jace had a decent lead over second place finisher Ben Mullin. “With about four blocks left, I saw he was in the lead and I almost lost my feet,” David said. “It almost knocked me over.” David explained that Lexi, Jace’s younger sister began running towards him as he approached the finish line, cheering for him and keeping him plugging along through the finish line. “Jace has always been a strong runner, but when he crossed that finish line in first place, I just couldn’t believe it. I just had so many tears of joy. I was so proud of him. “I just grabbed him at the finish line and hugged him and told him ‘great job’”. Jace gathered himself in time to congratulate Mullin, who finished in 19:41, 11 seconds behind Jace’s winning time of 19:30. “It felt good to win for my mom and know that I had done something great, but I also wanted to congratulate the second place guy,” Jace said. David was thankful to the woman who brought the story to attention.

They didn’t tell race organizers, and outside of a few faces that David recognized around the race, he hadn’t told anyone that Jace had just lost his mother. “I want to say thank you to the woman who brought attention to my grandson and the love she has shown him. She knows who she is.” He also wanted to thank Mullin for helping to push his grandson to a win in the race. “I just think the race is a great event for Chisago City,” he said. “It really helps bring the community together.” As for Jace, he’ll continue to run in honor of his mother. The recent high school graduate said he’s excited to begin college at Anoka-Ramsey Community College this fall and to train for more races. He said he has one coming up soon, and before the year is out, he plans on running one with his mother’s best friend. He’ll continue to run knowing that his mother is watching over him. “I just wanted to do my best and give it my all,” Jace said. “I know my mom would have been proud of me.”