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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. |
7th STOP: ROCHESTER
Laura Bloedorn wins at Rochester in 19:43, the fifth fastest time in 2004.
Chance encounter has Rochester
runner, teams on track to New York
Laura Bloedorn (8514) awaits the start on Rochester's new course with Christina Devries (8557) and Christa Downey (3380). Downey ran 19:56, the 8th fastest female time in 2004, to push Bloedorn to victory. |
Rochester, NY ( Sept. 9, 2004 ) – It's funny how odd, seemingly small, circumstances sometimes play a huge part in someone's life. For Laura Bloedorn, a run through a neighbor's yard helped put her on a path that has led to All-American honors, the 2004 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, and, this fall, the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Championship on Park Avenue in New York City.
After picking up track her junior year in high school in Green Bay, Bloedorn had decided to try something longer than the 100-meter dash when she moved to Lakeville, Minnesota for her senior year. She was running through a yard one day, when the property owner rushed out. It's no wonder he did. He happened to coach the local college track team, and he convinced Bloedorn that joining his squad at Carleton College was the thing to do after she graduated from high school.
Good move all around.
Bloedorn became a two-time Division III All-American at 10,000 meters, running 35:35 and was voted the 2003 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Most Outstanding Athlete in Track & Field. She qualified for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials by running a 2:42 marathon at the Motorola Marathon in Austin, Texas. Then, this May, she surprised herself by winning the Female title at Rochester 's JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge over a record field of almost 10,000. Her time of 19:43 is the fifth fastest this year and the fastest by an American woman.
In addition to being a contender for the individual female title at the Championship, Bloedorn, who moved to Rochester late last year, anchored a University of Rochester Female team that won a surprising title.
“We had considered putting all our best runners on a Mixed team and going for the win that way,” said team Company Captain Heather VanOrden. “I knew we'd have a strong men's team, but I was surprised when the results came in and our women's team won, too.”
Rochester's new course proved fast and scenic, especially with a race-day rainbow. |
Indeed, VanOrden played her cards just right. The University of Rochester's Male team won by 27 seconds over Corning, with Robert Duncan Douglas leading the way in 17:58. Craig LeFort (18:14), Carl Johnston (19:02), and Alec O'Connor (21:10) completed a Male team that moved up from third in 2003.
Meanwhile, the university's Female team nipped defending champion Eastman Kodak by 16 seconds. Joining Bloedorn were Rachel Delavan (23:44), Lucinda Rettke (24:33), and Karen Kryder (26:12) on a team that improved by 13 minutes compared to 2003 and comes into the Championship as the 9th fastest in the Series in 2004.
“I actually thought that we were going to enter the fastest times for a Mixed team,” said Bloedorn, a microbiologist at the university. “It was a nice surprise that so many women on our team ran so well. We decided to enter the fastest women's times into the all-women's division. We knew it would be a close call for first, so we were so excited to find out that we had won.”
It also was exciting for Bloedorn to win the individual title on a new Rochester course on which she regularly trains and one that helped fuel this year's record participation.
“I was in fourth place for the majority of the first mile,” Bloedorn said. “I started out conservatively, and started to pick up the pace after the first mile mark. I took the lead after the first mile, and gradually increased my lead until the finish. It helped me to have other women runners push me in the first mile, and I'm sure it helped me run a faster time.”
Now, refocused on shorter distances after qualifying for this spring's U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials, Bloedorn says she is surprised her 19:43 ranks so high.
“At the same time, there are many times for American women that are quite close to mine,” she said. “Because the times are so close, I think it will make for an interesting and exciting race in New York City for the Championship.”
And, while it hasn't been easy to train with her teammates because of different work schedules, they are looking forward to seeing how they can do in New York.
“I think our team is well prepared,” said Bloedorn. “There are many teams with fast times, so it will be exciting to race against good competition.”
Win or lose, however, this has been a banner year for the University of Rochester in the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge.
“We had 312 participants and won the award for largest participation,” VanOrden said. “We do a lot of promotions with posters and publications, and most of our team members have done the race in the past.
“Also, we promote the event as more than a running event. We promote it to walkers, but we also promote it as a nice night for departments to come out and get together. We have tents and food provided, and it's just a great way to get some exercise and spend some out of the office time with colleagues.”
No doubt, those colleagues will be very interested in how two University of Rochester teams do in New York this October.
In addition to the Male and Female champions from the University of Rochester, the other winning team from Rochester is Xerox. Frank Goetz, Howie Reitz, Jennifer Wagner and Patty Flanigan combined for a winning effort of 1:27:52.
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