JPMorgan Chase CEO Bill Harrison holds the tape as Ernesto Caballero wins the male title at Dallas in 18:09.

DALLAS, April 7, 2004 – You can call them the First Couple of running in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

About 10 years ago, Coby and Dana Bullard met at a summer outdoor track workout in Arlington, Texas when both were high school standouts. “I asked Dana out right away,” said Coby. The courtship included many training runs.

After graduating from their separate high schools, they decided to attend the University of Texas at Austin together. Coby paced the Longhorns’ men’s track team, running a personal best of 4:08 in the mile. Dana logged a PR of 17:40 in the 5K for the women’s squad. And shortly after graduation, Coby hooked his favored ’Horn, walking down the aisle with Dana.

Now they are one of the fastest married couples in the entire JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Series. On a calm, comfortable night at The Annette Strauss Artist Square in Dallas, Dana Bullard won the women’s division over the 3.5-mile course in 20:52, the fastest female winning time this season. Coby finished a solid third in the men’s division in 18:48. Both ran for their full-time employer, Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

“We ran in this event last year,” said Coby, who works with the process management group at Burlington Northern. “We didn’t know what we were getting into. We had no idea it had thousands of runners and was so well organized. So this year we trained harder as a team at Burlington Northern, and got more people involved.”

Indeed, the fourth annual Dallas JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge has taken hold in the corporate community. An impressive gathering of 5,057 participants from 183 companies took part, making Dallas only the fifth Corporate Challenge city in 28 years to attract more than 5,000 runners in its fourth year.

JPMorgan Chase, Bank One CEOs at event

Included among the participants was Bank One CEO Jamie Dimon. Bank One and JPMorgan Chase are in agreement to formally merge their institutions this summer. When Dimon crossed the finish line, there to greet him was JPMorgan Chase CEO Bill Harrison, who held the finish tape for both the men’s and women’s overall champions. It was the first public appearance together for Harrison and Dimon since the merger of the two organizations was announced. And it was particularly appropriate that it be at event that has been coined the “corporate social event of the year” in Dallas.

Series spokesperson Grete Waitz pins a number on Bank One CEO Jamie Dimon.

“It brings people together, it provides help to a good cause, it promotes camaraderie,” said Dimon, describing the Corporate Challenge. “It should be done in 100 cities.”

Also on hand were the event’s Honorary Chairmen – Robert Decherd, President and CEO of Belo Corp., and Roger Staubach, Chairman and CEO of the Staubach Company. The 5,000 starters gave Staubach rousing applause, surely recalling the two Super Bowl titles he earned with the Dallas Cowboys in an earlier professional career.

“We love this,” said Dana Bullard, a past winner of the White Rock and Cowtown Marathons in Dallas and Fort Worth respectively and a 50-second victor over second-place woman Kelly Noonan of Luke’s Locker. “It’s a big-time event with good runners, lots of companies and fun. It’s a real pleasure to compete here.”

Pleasurable, indeed, with her husband wearing the same corporate colors. The Bullards were hoping their performance would be enough to propel Burlington Northern to the mixed team title and an invitation to the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Championship in New York. If Burlington Northern were to advance, the Bullards would become only the second married couple in Corporate Challenge history to qualify for the Championship together. Pippa and Stuart Major of Legal & General in London were the other swift nuptials.

Swift also is the growth of this event. The 5,057 participants represent a growth of more than 100-percent the past two years. That’s good news for the Corporate Challenge’s three primary beneficiaries here – Dallas Civic Ventures, the Tarrant County College District and the Dallas County Community College District.

Ernesto Caballero captures male title

In addition to a beneficiary check, the Dallas County Community College District also took home a Tiffany award, courtesy of facilities manager Ernesto Caballero. The 38-year-old “fulfilled a dream” by earning the men’s title in 18:09, besting 2003 JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge champion Duncan Cragg of Luke’s Locker by 26 seconds.

“The first year this event was held, in the West End, I was late and couldn’t run,” said Caballero. “Last year I finished second to Duncan. He was just better on that night. And in this race we stayed together for two miles, and then I had an opportunity to make a move and ran alone the last mile. What a thrill to win this event. Nobody can take this title away.”

Caballero was thrilled also to meet one of his running idols – nine-time New York City Marathon champion Grete Waitz – on the awards stage. He danced onto the stage to give Grete a champion’s hug.

“I’m a big fan of the Corporate Challenge,” Caballero said. “I follow all the events on the web site and I can’t believe how fast some of the runners go, in places like Australia. We have a very difficult course here in Dallas, the last mile is challenging, and the humidity is tough. But I salute the runners in those other countries that are running 16 minutes for 3.5 miles. They are outstanding.”

Liu, Reed defend Most Senior Executive titles

Jean Liu of Litex Industries (30:51) and Ron Reed (24:00) of Reed Engineering Group successfully defended their female and male Most Senior Executive titles, respectively. The largest of the 183 companies was Homecomings Financial with 182 total participants.

“This is really the definition of team spirit,” said Elaine Agather, CEO of JPMorgan Chase in Dallas, as music played and thousands of runners took part in post-race hospitality. “We all feel like we are part of something special out here, special because we are all part of the Dallas- Fort Worth business community.”

Dallas was the third event of the 2004 JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Series and the first on U.S. soil. The Series resumes on Wednesday, April 28 with our debut event in Singapore.