Back from injury, Hart defends title Defending champion Jennifer Hart, 26, of Merck, started having trouble with her knees right after last July's Corporate Challenge. She limped through the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Championship in October - still finishing a respectable 18th among the world's fastest corporate women in 21:48 - but had not run another race since. Now, she's a winner again.

Photo finish part of a snapshot
of a classic community event
Official results | New Jersey in photos

One Call Medical gathers for group photo.

MORRISTOWN, N.J., July 22, 2004 - There was a photo finish in a picture perfect, old fashioned Downtown USA setting at the 16th annual JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge.

Chris Collins, representing IBM out of the Fishkill, NY office, overtook Doug Clark of Lucent Technologies in the final two strides, earning his first JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge individual title in 18:41. The stretch run thrilled spectators at an event that drew a near-record 3,143 total participants from 164 companies.

"To be honest, I had given up first place," said Collins, 38. "But, with about 400 meters to go, a gentleman (Marc Washington of Merck) came up alongside of me. I thought to myself 'I'm not going to let him beat me.' So I started to surge.

"Next thing I know," Collins continued, "I hear the crowd going wild and I see the finish tape. That was a nice surprise."

Collins ran 49 seconds faster in 2003 - largely due to this year's humid race time temperature of 85 degrees - but was handily beaten by Mike Spence of International Business Resources a year ago. Spence, a US National quality runner, and his IBR teammates ran in the June 23 Corporate Challenge in Central Park this season, opening the door for Collins. And the former 800 meter collegiate standout at Rutgers burst through it.

Victory was "a nice bonus" for IBM's Collins

"This is my third year running here, and I went into with the attitude that if I had a chance to win, I would go for it," Collins said. "I was right there at 2 ½ miles, but then when (Clark) passed me, I just wanted to give best effort. The win was a nice bonus."

Running in any race was gratifying to Jennifer Hart, 26, of Merck. The defending champion of this event, Hart started having trouble with her knees right after last July's Corporate Challenge. She limped through the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Championship in October - still finishing a respectable 18th among the world's fastest corporate women in 21:48 - but had not run another race since.

"This was my target return," Hart said. "It is one of my favorites."

Hart crossed the finish line in 21:32, 31 seconds ahead of Susan Copleman of GlaxoSmithKline. The former Bucknell cross country standout broke the tape with a big smile on her face. As it turns out, she had much to be happy about.

Friendly competition pushes Mason Miller of McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter (#1031) and John Stanley of Johnson & Johnson (#706) to the line.

"This was my first-ever injury but I guess it came at a good time," said Hart. "I completed my Masters (in biotechnology) at the University of Pennsylvania, and I've been planning a wedding. I'm getting married in two weeks."

Naturally, the intended is a runner. Russell Curley, a former collegiate runner at Brown, coaches Hart and will take her hand. "He's more of a marathon runner and I'm more of a 5K girl," said Hart.

Ah, how opposites attract. And watch out for Hart at this year's Championship event. "Hopefully I'll be in much better shape than last year and much better shape than I am right now," she said.

One runner on top of his game on this night was the male Most Senior Executive champion, Robert Mooth of AC Nielsen Bases. He crossed the finish line in 19:54, putting him in the top five-percent of all MSE's in the 2004 JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Series to date. Carol Armour of the Morris Center YMCA earned the women's MSE crown in 33:12.

"I just moved here from Cincinnati," said Mooth, noting how he became acquainted quite bluntly with the hills that make Morristown arguably the toughest worldwide course in the Corporate Challenge. "I'm just a hack who gets out of bed in the morning and runs. But I've been running since I was 12 years old and haven't stopped and it's a great thing to blend into your business too. I travel a lot, and there's no better way to see a new city."

Event showcases revitalization of Morristown

And, as it turns out, there's no better way to show off downtown Morristown than this event. The crowd of 3,143 is the second largest in the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge history here, falling only 27 entrants short of the record 3,170 who took part in 2002.

"This event is so important to the revitalization of Morristown," said Suzanne Behnke, manager for JPMorgan Chase's Morristown Green branch. "It's very important for JPMorgan Chase to have an active community involvement here and we're proud to bring this race back each year."

JPMorgan Chase also made a donation through the Corporate Challenge to the Morris Habitat for Humanity, which will be using the donation toward its "Five for 2005" goal of securing land allowing for five new affordable housing projects in the next calendar year.

Verizon - led by tireless company captain Mark Monteyne - set a Morristown record for largest participation by a single team 405 total participants. And there was terrific depth of quality teams running. On both the men's and women's sides, six different companies were represented among the six top individual finishers, a rarity in Corporate Challenge events. And the top companies ranged from Fortune 500 entries like Merck and GlaxoSmithKline to local law firms, manufacturers and even a popular watering hole, the Dark Horse Lounge.

"It definitely is a community event, in all senses," said JPMorgan Chase's Behnke.