Runners gathered Saturday morning in Breezy Point to race for a cause. The 16th annual Breezy Point 5k took off at 9:00AM, and 15 minutes later the first racer would cross the finish line.

Stevie Paulson started the Breezy Point 5k with a challenge to his family.

“Sixteen years ago, we were sitting at the campfire, and I said, ‘hey, we’re going to be eating a lot of food over the 4th of July weekend. Let’s everybody get up tomorrow morning and run a 5k,’ so we did,” said Paulson.

The event continued to grow after its inception and took on a higher purpose as Paulson began to give proceeds to local charities.

“And fast forward, last year we had 650 people in our driveway, and we raised $89,000. And this year we’re trying to break that record and crack the $90,000 mark,” said Paulson.

This year the event is helping to support the Minnesota Adult and Teen Challenge. The Duluth campus is a thirteen-month faith-based drug and alcohol treatment center for men. Other locations around Minnesota are designated for women only.

The Breezy Point 5k doesn’t just attract local support, but people from around the world. Paulson explained that they have had attendees from other states such as Arizona and have even had some from England.

“But every year there’s new people here. And then the next year the people that couldn’t make it come again and bring other people. And it just keeps growing. So, we hope we can keep it here. If it gets too much bigger, we might have to move it somewhere else, but we’ll keep it here as long as we can,” said Paulson.

This year’s event brought in about 650 attendees and had over fifty sponsors give monetary donations, t-shirts and food.

“You know it’s cool because everywhere you go you see people wearing Breezy 5k t-shirts. And some of them are 5, 10 years old and they still wear them with pride. And you know people come by boat, they walk, people bike here,” said Paulson.