There wasn’t a villain to be seen Saturday morning as superheroes lined Lafayette Park in Austin, ready to fight crime during a 5K.

“They’re obsessed with superheroes; we saw the flier at the gym,” Joe Chidester said about his two sons.

Members of Community Against Bullying, also known as CAB, and the Austin Police Officer Association joined together to hold a 5K Saturday to raise money to support educational opportunities to help empower kids to not become bullied or be the bully. Four Austin police officers also ran in the 5K in their Special Incident Response Team armored vests — about 25 extra pounds — to raise money to buy a protective vest for Lt. Matt Holten’s K-9 partner Sonic.

“It will protect the dog both with sharp objects and guns,” Walski said. “We kind of feel that he should have the same protection as the officers do.”

For the Superhero Dash, participants dressed up as their favorite superheroes.

Jack Chidester, 5, dressed as Optimus Prime — “Because that’s my favorite [Transformer].”

His brother, Jayce, 3, also dressed as a favorite: “I like Batman,” he said.

Joe and his wife, Jenna, brought their two sons and their four-month-old daughter, Pressli, to the race. Though not expert racers, the family was excited to be a part of the fun.

According to Danielle Nesvold, about 60 participants showed up to the race Saturday. The event raised about $2,850, and $2,500 will be matched by Modern Woodmen of America, leaving them at about $5,350 to go towards bringing speakers and other presenters to the Austin Public Schools to talk about bully prevention. But this wasn’t the only agenda for the event.

Officers Mark Walski, Kim Lenz, Rian Jones and Tim Donovan ran to support Sonic.

“It’s kind of nice, when I initially started telling the guys I was going to do it, it was just me,” Walski said.

He added with a laugh, “To have three other people suffering with me is kind of nice.”

The goal was to raise $1,000, which is the cost for the vest. The team surpassed that goal and raised about $1,500, with money still coming in.

“[We] raised more than enough,” Walski said. “[We] have enough to get the vest, and the rest [will] donate to CAB.”

He added, “To help them out and do something on the side with the dog, [it’s] kind of fun and brings people together.”

Sonic also made an appearance on race-day, giving a demonstration with Holten. This was the first year of the Superhero Dash, but not the first year of a fundraiser. Members started fundraising in February of 2011 with a “take it to the street” approach, standing on street corners with buckets. Organizers plan to hold the dash again next year.

—Eric Johnson contributed to this report.