Up North: Aleia Project holds 5k for food allergy awareness

The scene was set at Leif Erikson Park in Duluth for the Northland 5k for food allergy this past Saturday. Organized by the Aleia Project, to bring awareness to life-threatening food allergies for young and old.

“Both of my kids have anaphylactic food allergies, so it’s something we’ve navigated for the last 16 years. I think there’s a lot of misunderstanding and it’s really important to get more information and learn more about it so people can understand what we deal with or what we live with day to day,” said Aleia project President Emily Homan.

The awareness paid off as over 90 runners registered for the out-and-back course race, which  was a chip-timed run/walk event.

With the course following the lake walk toward Canal Park and the turn-around point just before the lighthouse.

A great experience and enjoyable run for this year’s first place male finisher, John Judge who hails from Madison Wisconsin. “It was it was great weather; I loved the course being out there right on the lakefront. The course was well marked and well organized. Maybe if I can come back next year, I’ll hope to see more people out here,” claimed Judge.

This was his first ever race in Minnesota. However, he will be back in just a few weeks as he plans to run the full Grandmas Marathon.

On the female side of things the first woman to cross was Julie Robles, marking just her third race since having a little boy a year ago. “I’ve been getting back into running over the winter. Now that it’s spring I have been trying to pull off some fast stuff, some workouts and some races. So, the race today wasn’t like a lifetime PR, but it was my fastest 5K since having a kid so that was really exciting,” added Robles.

Running wasn’t the only attraction as patrons brought allergy-conscious food and beverages along with lawn games, kids activities, and allergy-aware product samples to take home.

“I’m just excited and just really grateful for everyone coming out to help and everyone coming out to participate,” concluded committee planner Becca Doppler.

For more information on the Aleia Project CLICK HERE.