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The 2004 JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Championship will be the most global and competitive in history. The best corporate runners from six countries on five continents will compete on Saturday, October 2 on New York's famous Park Avenue. This is one of a series of features about teams training for the Championship. You'll want to visit all the stops on the Road to the Championship to read about the participants who have found the perfect blend of workplace productivity and race course swiftness. |
14th STOP: JOHANNESBURG
Is Transwerk a runaway train
headed for victory on Park Avenue?
Members of Transwerk gather at starting line in Johannesburg. Transwerk took the first five spots in the race. |
Johannesburg, South Africa (Sept. 27, 2004) – Literally day and night, their runners can be found training on the roads and trails near their South African company. In a country that has spawned an Olympic marathon gold medalist and the 1980s running legend of Zola Budd, railway engineering company Transwerk is sending four runners to New York in hopes of establishing another great running tradition.
In March, the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge came for the first time to the continent of Africa. Making the four-hour drive to Johannesburg was a group of eight male runners from Transwerk. The race ended quickly and decisively for Transwerk.
Its fourth runner crossed the line in 17 minutes, 4 seconds, so you know this is a special team. The team's time of 1:07:01 is the fastest ever run since Male teams were switched from five to four runners in 2003. It leads this season's next best time by 2:21. And, its time would have beaten that of 2003 Male team champion Royal Mail Letters of London by more than two and a half minutes.
Are we about to see corporate running's version of Secretariat's 17-length Belmont victory on Park Avenue on Oct. 2?
“The athletes realize they have the best time in the series and are keen to face the best corporate runners in the world,” said Martin Lombard, Company Captain. “They are quietly confident.”
It's easy to see why. Before March's Johannesburg competition, Transwerk was told that Goldfields was the team to beat. That said, Transwerk won by three minutes over Goldfields. It could have been worse.
“We actually entered eight participants, taking the first five positions,” said Lombard. “Unfortunately, one of the athletes sustained an injury during the race could not complete the race. This most probably cost us the second position as well.”
Keep in mind, Goldfields has the third-fastest Male team time in 2004.
Barene Beard won for Standard Bank, which captured the Female title by 19 minutes. |
Also, said Lombard, Transwerk's 1:07:01 was run at altitude, where thinner air slows down times because oxygen is harder to get.
“They could improve on their performance running at sea level (in New York),” he said, adding ominously, “As this event took place early in our season, the race was used as a warm-up. We did not expect to post a fast time.”
Yikes! It certainly appears Transwerk is a runaway train headed to victory on Park Avenue. And yet, … you never know.
“Our team members have only traveled within South Africa,” said Lombard, suggesting New York in the fall could be something of a culture shock for the runners. “I am of the opinion that the team does not know what to expect, as their reference framework does not, as yet, extend beyond Africa. They are mainly focused on the race.”
That may be an understatement.
Transwerk is led by Hermans Pedi, who won at Johannesburg in 16:27, the fourth fastest time in 2004. When word of the Johannesburg event reached Pedi, a process worker for Transwerk, he had one thought: "We're going to win a trip to New York."
“The message to the athletes prior to the race was to clear their mind and only focus on winning the race to ensure a trip to New York,” said Lombard.
But, after accepting his Tiffany gift as the men's champ, Pedi said to the gathered media, "Now we want to show the world we are the best corporate runners."
Pedi's teammates include two more runners in this year's top 10 list - Kays Kototsa (16:39, 7th overall) and Patrick Ngakatau (16:51, 10th overall). Johannes Ndala rounds out the team with his 17:04, just outside of the top 10.
The question that must be asked is why is Transwerk so good?
For starters, the company is committed to athletics. Transwerk, explains Lombard, has its own athletic club catering to serious runners, joggers and walkers. The company's athletes focus on track and cross country events, but especially on an event such as the Corporate Challenge.
“The athletes train all year peaking for chosen events,” said Lombard. “Some of them follow their own training program due to work commitments such as working overtime, and others have a coach. Most of them train twice a day, mainly before and after work, from 4 in the morning to as late as 9 at night.”
The disciplined training, the love of their sport, and their sheer talent now bring them to the biggest stage in corporate running against the best runners from five continents. It promises to be quite a show.
“Victory,” said Lombard, “will be a huge boost for the athletes' morale.”
NOTES: South African's other two first-time team champions were Standard Bank (Female) and Momentum (Mixed).
Standard Bank won by more than 19 minutes behind the efforts of female champion Barene Beard (22:46) and third-place women's finisher Lesley Sopper (23:29).
"I never thought I would win this race, it's a complete shock," said Beard, who wasn't even aware that the Corporate Challenge offered a trip for the winning team to New York and went for a 10K training run in the morning of the race.
"After my run this morning my legs were a bit heavy, but after a while I got into the spirit of the event and it felt like a holiday out on the course."
Jennifer Hendersen (27:45) and Claudia Smither (29:36) round out Standard Bank's team.
Meanwhile, Momentum used a second-place effort by Heleen Joubert (22:53) to secure its Mixed victory by 13 minutes. Bennie Roux (22:44), Jaco Swanepoel (23:51) and Elsie Bezuidenhout (26:29) complete the team.
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