Surfside 5K brings together hundreds in support families of condo collapse victims

The Support Surfside 5K brought together hundreds of people from all across South Florida on Saturday morning to show their support for the town of Surfside and the families of victims of the Champlain Tower South condo collapse.

Runners were on their mark, ready and set, to run for a cause far beyond themselves.

“Praying for all the souls that can’t be here today,” says participant Julie Castro with Team Fort Lauderdale. “We are out here for them and for their families,”

Organized by Victory Sports and Runner’s Depot, all of the registration costs went directly to SupportSurfside.org, which is a relief fund to help those impacted.

“When it happened, we wanted to know what we could do to help. We can’t go pull rubble. We aren’t psychologists to go and talk to people. But we could put a race on to raise money for those families,” says Danny Howard, one of the event organizers and President of Victory Sports. “When we put it together we were hoping for 300 people, and it turned into 1,200 people. It’s a pretty amazing outcome. The South Florida community really came in strong for this event and really showed love for Surfside through the 5K.”

In fact, so many people registered, their original race location of TY park in Hollywood could not fit them all, so it was moved to Markham Park in Sunrise.

“I am very sorry and compassionate to the people, the victims,” says overall winner Joseph Eniola. “I just, I pray to God that they will be well.”

Runners taking part, not for the award or the medal, but to give back in the way they can.

“It’s important to come out and show the community we can support everybody whenever there’s a tragedy,” says participant Mario Perez, with Team Crossfit A1A. “It’s a nice thing for all of us to do to show the families we really care about what happened in Surfside.”

With registration costs at $35 each, organizers project they will be able to donate more than $40,000.