Little Rascal Runs Fast

This little rascal was in The Source today, www.stjohnsource.com. I think he will end up as a good runner. He is only 12 right now and is on the Gifft Hill School cross country team already.

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@ School: The Fastest Kid on St. John
By Lynda Lohr — April 4, 2010

Evan Jones

When runners at February’s 8 Tuff Miles race on St. John crossed the finish line in Coral Bay, 11-year-old Evan Jones was right up there with the men and women.

He finished 32nd out of a field of 895 runners and 28th out of the 406 men. He won his age group of 12 and younger with a time of one hour, six minutes, 12 seconds, not that far behind the course-record winning time of 46 minutes, 22 seconds.

"I like to run because it's one of the things I'm really good at," he said.

Jones starting running the 8 Tuff Miles race in 2008, when he came in 53rd. In 2009, he was 47th. That year and again this, he won the pre-race practice events out of a field of about 50 people.

He started running as a small child but it wasn't until 2008 that he began participating in organized events. Last year, he was a member of the Gifft Hill School's cross country team and expects to join again when cross country events start up in the fall.

He also plans to participate for the second time in the Peachtree Road Race, held in Atlanta on July 4.

Evan's hero is Steve Prefontaine, an acclaimed runner who raced at the Munich Olympics in 1972. After a friend gave Evan a book about Prefontaine, he said he was inspired by his efforts to keep running.

He's fifth grader at Gifft Hill School, which he started attending when he was three. He's a straight A student who "reads voraciously."

He was born in Athens, Ga., but his parents, Arthur and Beth Jones, brought him home to St. John when he was three weeks old. He has a sister, Adelaide, 6.

His parents are proud of their son's accomplishments. His mother usually volunteers at the 8 Tuff Miles race so she can watch him cross the finish line.

"I can hear people start yelling as he's running down the field. It's pretty cool," she said.

He already runs faster than his father. The first year the two ran the 8 Tuff Miles, he beat his father by 10 or 11 seconds.

"This year it was five minutes," Arthur Jones said.

When Evan's not at school or running, he goes fishing and plays basketball, football and soccer.

He occasionally goes kayaking with his father, who owns the kayaking guide company, Arawak Expeditions.

"But I like paddle boards better," he said.