'Spirit' of Corporate Challenge shines in Crissy Field beauty
Official results are posted | The 2003 race in photographs

"Spirit" is held by Melissa Kennedy as Vodafone teammates gather around for a pre-race photo. Both Spirit and Kennedy are breast cancer survivors who inspired their teammates.

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 17, 2003 – The “spirit” of the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge was defined in many ways on the final evening of the regular 2003 Series season.

There was the setting. The 19th annual Corporate Challenge in San Francisco was held at breathtaking Crissy Field on the northwestern most edge of the Presidio, hard by the Golden Gate Bridge

“It is, without question, the most beautiful course in the entire Corporate Challenge Series,” said Jeremy Kelly, a Managing Director for JPMorgan Chase in the Bay Area.

There were the participants, over 2,100 of them, led by one of the most accomplished racers in Corporate Challenge history. Dave Cullum of Merrill Lynch – a member of the U.S. national cross country team and an Olympic-caliber steeplechase runner – earned his fourth Corporate Challenge title overall with a winning time of 17:07 over the flat, windy 3.5-mile course. It is the fastest U.S. time this year.

There was the camaraderie, with 130 companies setting up camp in a long emerald swatch of Crissy Field, a converted U.S. Postal Service landing strip. Long before the race went off at 7 p.m. there were teammates tossing Frisbees and alternately enjoying each other’s company and the striking views. “We’re all about work hard and then have fun,” said Bernd Schmalzridt, company captain for SAP Labs. “This is perfect for that philosophy.”

'Spirit' and companion inspire teammates at Vodafone

And, finally, there was “Spirit the Vodadog.”

Spirit is an eight-year-old canine companion of Melissa Kennedy, a Vodafone employee. Both Kennedy and Spirit were at the starting line to root on the Vodafone runners, and then were waiting in the post-race hospitality area to offer congratulations. Their presence at the event was an inspiration to all Vodafone employees. Kennedy and Spirit are both breast cancer survivors.

“We’ve been entering this event for nine years,” said Holly Gillis, team captain for Vodafone. “We wouldn’t miss it. You have an awesome venue here at Crissy Field, the hospitality is outstanding, and it’s such an important night for us to have Melissa and Spirit out here with us cheering us on.”

Kennedy was diagnosed with breast cancer in the April 2000. She has endured chemotherapy and her doctors believe the cancer is in remission. Spirit was diagnosed recently and in the last month underwent surgery. The Corporate Challenge was an important event for both of them.

George Cagle of Oracle Corporation warms up for the San Francisco JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge with a stunning backdrop.

“I was really looking forward to this,” Kennedy said. “It was good to be here cheering on the team, holding down the fort so to speak. And Spirit loved it, with all the people, and plenty of room to run in the park.

“I really do think Spirit and I were meant to be together and go through this together,” she said. “I’ll remember this night fondly.”

So too will Ginger Ellsworth of EduSoft, a first-time JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge winner. The 26-year-old Princeton graduate crossed the finish line as the first woman with a time of 21:21, besting Eileen White of the East Bay Municipal District by 20 seconds.

An engineer at EduSoft – an educational software company – Ellsworth rowed crew at Princeton and was an avid cross country skier. She has balanced her professional life with a passion for triathlons, with strong showings in the Hawaii and Lake Placid Ironman events.

“I’m enjoying running now,” said Ellsworth, a former high school cross country and track standout in Massachusetts. “I ran a strong race at the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon in 2000 and figured if I trained and competed harder, I might have a chance of having good success. Coming to an event like this and winning is gratifying.”

Ellsworth was in extremely good company at the front of the pack. The men’s winner, Cullum, has won three San Francisco Corporate Challenge events and also the 2000 JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Championship in New York. A broker’s assistant at Merrill Lynch, Cullum also is focused on earning a spot on the 2004 U.S. Olympic team in the steeplechase.

Cullum wins male title, hopes to return to Championship

“I want to be known as an Olympian,” said Cullum, who finished 11th in the nation this year in the steeplechase. “I’m focused on doing whatever it takes, from training to nutrition. I’m proud to have earned a spot on the U.S. national team in cross country (12K) and I have the competitiveness and the work ethic to feel that Athens is a goal.”

Cullum likely has some immediate travel included with his running. Merrill Lynch had the first, third and fifth men in this event, virtually assuring the financial services company a spot in the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Championship on Saturday, October 4 in New York.

The Merrill Lynch team was bolstered by the recent hire of Mark Pilja, a 23-year-old former All-American at Michigan. He neatly replaced former Merrill standout Jason Lunn, who has left the firm to train full-time as a track athlete.

“When I got word that Mark was joining us,” Cullum smiled, “I thought, ‘Great, here we come to New York’. I hope we make it this year.”

Beauty of Crissy Field helps afix race beneficiary

Konrad Knutsen of BT Commercial ran a solid race, finishing second in the men’s division in 17:28.

John Raguin of Guidewire Software (20:15) and Lorraine Hariton (39:51) of Apptera were the respective men’s and women’s winners in the Most Senior Executive category on a night where Mars shined brightly in a cloudless sky and a cool breeze off San Francisco Bay made for comfortable conditions.

The brightest star of the evening, however, was Crissy Field itself and it was appropriate that the beneficiary was the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy. The Conservancy will earmark the donation from JPMorgan Chase for funding programs at Crissy Field Center, an environmental education facility. Each year, roughly 10,000 school children pass through Crissy Field Center, learning lessons in biology, technology and art.

The San Francisco event concludes the 27th regular season of the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Series. Winning teams from 13 cities around the world will now converge next month for the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Championship, with the start and finish outside of JPMorgan Chase’s Park Avenue headquarters in New York. Keep an eye on Cullum and Merrill Lynch, they very well might be the favorites to win the men’s individual and team titles respectively.

“We’d like to be there waving the American flag,” said Cullum. “It’s a special event to go against the top corporate runners from around the world.”