Photo by Carsen Maciag/The Siskiyou
A group of participants run in the 5K Full Belly Run Saturday morning. A raffle and prizes followed.

The 2nd annual 5K Full Belly Run took place Saturday at the SOU track, and more than 40 local residents participated in the event.

Runners paid a $15 entry fee to participate in the event. The money benefited ACCESS Inc. and was used to provide food for underprivileged people within our area. ACCESS is a not-for-profit agency that serves as Jackson County’s Community Action Agency, with a mission of "Helping People, Help Themselves."

Of the $15 that participants paid, $10 actually went to ACCESS, while $5 was used to buy T-shirts for the runners. Of that $10, each dollar purchased six pounds of food.

Sam Baldwin, the Belly Run organizer, was extremely pleased with how the event turned out.

"We had 45 runners this year, which was more than last year, so that’s a great improvement," Baldwin said.

Baldwin was the event coordinator last year as well.

"This is just a great fundraiser for the community," Baldwin said. "And hopefully we will be able to have the event next year too."

The 5K track laid out by Baldwin began at the Raider Football Stadium track. The runners then exited the main stadium, ran through the soccer field, ran around the cemetery on Siskiyou Boulevard and finished back at the main track.

The run was scheduled to kick off at 9 a.m., but the runners got started a little early and were all able to finish the race over an hour before the 11 a.m. deadline.

After the race, Baldwin held a raffle in which almost half of the runners received prizes such as coffee mugs and hats.