Don't be left out. Register online for June's races in Central Park now.
Register now for June's Central Park races;
Sellouts expected for popular events
Access online registration
Access Hospitality Village registration
NEW YORK, March 15, 2007 – Registration has opened for the 31st annual JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge in New York, and companies are urged to get their entries in as soon as possible. Access the online registration process by clicking here.
The event will be held once again this year on back-to-back nights, Wednesday, June 20 and Thursday, June 21, with a 7 p.m. race start both evenings in Central Park.
Because the field each night is limited to only 15,000 entrants and sellouts are expected, company captains are urged to organize and finalize teams as soon as possible. Also, please note that companies may enter only one night.
The Central Park races began in 1977, when 200 runners from 50 companies showed up for the first event in a Series that has spread to five continents and attracts more than 200,000 entrants annually. New York 's races are more popular than ever and in recent years have featured an expanded Hospitality Village for employee parties that last year attracted some 300 companies to the world's greatest urban park.
In fact, if you have not done so already, consider reserving a picnic area or tent suite in the event's Hospitality Village. A picnic/tent suite reservation will assure your company's entry into the race. There has been outstanding response to date and there are only a limited number of picnic areas and tent suites still available. Please call (917) 463-3954 or e-mail newyork@jpmorganchasecc.com for any questions/support related to hospitality or registration. All information on the Hospitality Village is available by clicking here.
Benefits for reserving hospitality at the Corporate Challenge, include:
- First priority for race registration night of preference.
- A designated, reserved meeting place for your company in Central Park, with maps available to help you locate your team.
- An excellent opportunity for a company party and inter-company networking.
- The option to order delicious food and refreshing beverages.
- A convenient location to the central information tent, the start and finish lines, the awards stage and DJ entertainment.
- Quick access to Fifth Avenue and the West Side.
In conjunction with the event, JPMorgan Chase will make a donation to the Central Park Conservancy, the organization that restores, manages and preserves the world's greatest park.
A team event designed to promote fitness and camaraderie, the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge also offers competitive racing with individual male and female winners, Most Senior Executive champions, and team champions (four-person Male, Female, and Mixed teams) crowned each night. Also, three teams are honored each night for their creativity in designing t-shirts. They receive a $500 contribution to the charity of their choice from JPMorgan Chase.
So, don't miss the excitement in Central Park June 20 or June 21. Register now so you and your company will be sure to be a part of the fun and fitness this year.
2006 moments: Charlotte Matthews of Bovis Lend Lease (25445) outstprints Edie Perkins of Scholastic to win the June 22nd New York City JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge by one second in 22:06 (left photo). Top right, Meghan Deberry of FTI Consulting cheers as she starts. Center right, Karl Dusen of AIG wins. Bottom right, Kimberly Davis, President of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, starts race.
Second New York sellout features
remarkable performances by champions |
|
|
We invite you to re-live the 2006 JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge in New York City through our Bonus Photo Galleries. Click the Gallery titles below to access eight sets of photos, in addition to the Photo Gallery posted on race night.
Race 1, June 21
Race 2, June 22
|
NEW YORK, June 22, 2006 – It had already been a great week at work for Charlotte Matthews of Bovis Lend Lease. Her performance in the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge® made it even more special.
Matthews, 29, is a “green building specialist” for Bovis, a firm that provides project design and construction for large buildings. Earlier in the week, the Tribeca Green building in Battery Park City received a prestigious designation for being environmentally friendly. “It was the first in the city, and it was huge for our firm,” Matthews said. “I was walking on air for this race.”
It showed. Matthews out-kicked Edie Perkins of Scholastic, Inc. in the final 30 meters to earn a one-second victory with a 22:06 finishing time on an exceptionally humid evening in Central Park 's 3.5-mile course. Not bad for a woman who hadn't raced seriously since high school and is “apparently getting better with age.”
Matthews' only other race since her prep days was in last year's Corporate Challenge, where she finished fifth overall in 21:33. “It was a surprise to me that I could run that fast,” she admitted. “But I never thought I would have a chance to win this race.”
It was appropriate that she would win in Central Park, however, particularly with JPMorgan Chase making a donation for each of the 17,500 participants to the Central Park Conservancy, the organization that restores and preserves the world's most vibrant park.
“People don't appreciate you rely on the environment to make you feel good,” Matthews said. “I like this race because it is run to help keep the park clean, so I can run in it and feel good about myself.”
17,500 used their feet and voices to contribute to the community
Matthews' comments were music to the ears of Kimberly Davis, President of the JPMorgan Chase Foundation and the host of this 30th annual celebration of corporate fitness.
“We had 17,500 citizens here who are using their feet and their voices to say that contributing to the community is an important thing,” said Davis. “And with every entry helping the Conservancy, what better way to blend what JPMorgan Chase is doing in the community to actual participation. It's a great partnership.”
The men's winner on this evening is a young professional well known in racing circles. Karl Dusen, 23, representing the global investor group at AIG, was the top runner at Columbia University, graduating in 2005. He ran number one for Columbia 's 2004 Ivy League/Heptagonal championship cross country team and is the school record holder in 10,000 meters on the track. And he has proudly taken his racing prowess from Morningside Heights to AIG.
“Running was a great part of my college experience and it is a part of who I am,” said Dusen. “It really shaped me to be the type of person I am. A lot of the same traits that make me a good runner make me a good employee.”
Dusen turned in the fastest time on the two nights of the Corporate Challenge, breaking the tape in full stride in 17:05. His victory margin over Paul Curtis of Urban Athletics was 88 seconds, as the second and third finishers were disqualified for being illegal participants. The second finisher – who was unregistered and running with a colleague's bib number, forcing the DQ – clocked a 17:32.
AIG, which entered 272 employees, knew of Dusen's expertise on the roads.
“They're very understanding of my running, very supporting, and it's a great atmosphere there,” Dusen said.
Carolyn Lie of Macy's Merchandising Group (26532) finishes in a crowd. |
Geoffrey Ramsey of eMarketer, Inc. (23:19) and multiple-time Corporate Challenge champion Clarice Kennedy of Chamrock Computer Network (29:40) were the men's and women's Most Senior Executive champions on a night where pre- and in-race water stations were more welcome than a subway seat during rush hour.
Advance thunderstorm forecasts, however, never materialized and it allowed the post-race party in the expansive Central Park hospitality area to go on deep into the night. And the atmosphere was particularly festive at the awards stage when the three t-shirt competition winners were announced – Anchin, Block and Anchin; the Kings County DA 's office and Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw, Pittman.
Those three companies have a nice head start on training for the 2007 JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge. They will receive $500 from JPMorgan Chase to donate to a charity of their choice and an in-office training session from the fitness instructors at New York Sports Clubs.
It was a good week for JPMorgan Chase, also. On Tuesday, the Bank learned that United States Track and Field had named the Corporate Challenge “Charitable Race of the Year” in the U.S., a designation that made Davis very proud.
“I think large corporations always struggle with the credibility issue around philanthropy,” said Davis. “Is it self-serving or are you really serving the needs of the community? I think this recognition says that the community understands we are doing something serious.”
2006 Corporate Challenge series is enjoying a banner year
Credibility in the Corporate Challenge is at an all-time high. Events in Johannesburg, Singapore, Chicago, Frankfurt, Boston and New York have all had capacity crowds in 2006 and the overall Series attendance is up nearly 10-percent from 2005. And with young champions like Dusen and Matthews, the future is bright.
Frank Handelman, the very first Corporate Challenge winner on July 13, 1977, took part on this night, wearing a singlet from the New York Legal Aid society that he donned in his road race heyday. “It was great to be back, and to see how this event has matured and become all-inclusive,” he said. “It remains a very special night in New York.”
The 30th year of the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge continues on July 4th and 6th in London, where full fields are entered on both nights at Battersea Park.
June 21, 2006 New York City race coverage below |
With first-ever champion on hand,
New York's best carve out victories
Unofficial results | Photo Gallery
Lesley Higgins earns two wins - as the fastest female finisher and as a winning T-shirt designer for the City of New York/Department of Buildings. Joe Vericker, PhotoBureau. |
NEW YORK, June 21, 2006 – The elite runners in the 30th annual JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge in breathtaking Central Park had a tough act to follow.
Waiting at the finish line by Bethesda Fountain was Frank Handelman, winner of the very first Corporate Challenge in Central Park, on July 13, 1977.
If that date strikes you as familiar, it was also the same evening as the famed New York City Blackout. About two hours before the lights went out, Handelman shone brightly, covering the 3.5-mile Central Park course in a speedy 16:58. He remains one of a small handful of New York runners to break 17 minutes in this event and he was a very appropriate guest as this staple event celebrated a special milestone.
Handelman beat a small, three-figure crowd in 1977. “It was a novelty then,” he said. “Night races were still new in the city.” On this night, a capacity crowd of 17,500 runners and walkers gathered from 426 companies. Sell-outs have become commonplace as the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge has evolved from a quirky, double-loop road race for serious runners into an all-inclusive celebration of corporate camaraderie.
And due to the tremendous popularity, JPMorgan Chase is able to make a sizable donation through the Corporate Challenge to The Central Park Conservancy, the organization that restores and preserves the world's most visited park.
“This is the greatest running gig going,” said Mary Wittenberg, President and CEO of the New York Road Runners. “People get out of work early to run, have a great party, and help a terrific cause.”
John Traugott, Lesley Higgins capture individual honors
There were indeed plenty of post-race smiles in an expansive hospitality area in Central Park. Sporting ear-to-ear grins were the two individual winners – John Traugott of Credit Suisse (17:48) and Lesley Higgins (20:24), representing the New York City Department of Buildings/Special Investigations Unit.
Traugott was a track captain at Harvard ('03) and has developed quite a reputation as a runner at Credit Suisse.
“I started at Credit Suisse this past September, so this is my first Corporate Challenge,” he said. “We had over 500 people (506) entered, and I got a lot of support from people to come out and run well. I receive a couple of calls today from California and another from a director who was on a pitch in the Midwest. They all were rooting for me to do well.”
Credit Suisse knew it had a chance to have a champion. Traugott has run 2:29 and 2:32 in the last two New York Marathons. And the 24-year-old showed his fabulous ability as he took control just before mile two and outdistanced second-place finisher Joseph McVeigh of Morgan Stanley (18:18).
“I've always had a passion for running, but I've never really been a road racer,” Traugott said. “This is my first race, in fact, since the Marathon (last November). But when I was out on the course, and the lead bikes were yelling at people to get off the course, I felt special.”
For Higgins – also a 2005 individual women's champion – this was a double-victory. She outfought second-place finisher Christa Downey Meyer of GlaxoSmithKline and also designed a winning entry in the t-shirt competition.
Joe Giovengo of News Corporation (15657) and Emond Richardson of Bloomberg LP (5296) race to a Central Park finish.
“The t-shirt win means a lot more to me than the individual win,” Higgins said. “My colleagues at work and I have a friend who is an FBI agent that we do a lot collaborative efforts with. His son died of a brain aneurysm several years ago and he started the Louis B. DeGregorio Memorial Foundation. We will make the $500 donation from the t-shirt competition to Lou's foundation, and it will give this race a lot of meaning to us.”
Higgins, 26, is an investigator with the Department of Buildings. Her 10-person team was modest in size compared to Credit Suisse – and especially next to the monstrous, 1,968 person team put together by Morgan Stanley – but they were an enthusiastic lot, roaring approval when Higgins accepted her first place award.
“This was a tougher race than last year,” Higgins said. “I ran a 19:43 here last year, and I didn't feel comfortable with this race until the final half mile.”
Higgins' main competition, Christa Downey Meyer, won 2005 Corporate Challenge events in Rochester and New Jersey and was also the first U.S. finisher at the 2005 JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Championship (second overall).
Google, Oxford Health Plans, Department of Buildings win T-shirt honors
Google and Oxford Health Plans were the other winning t-shirt entries. Like the Department of Buildings, they will receive $500 to donate to the charity of their choice along with an in-office team training session with the professional staff from the New York Sports Clubs.
Louis Adolfsen of Melito & Adolfsen and Invesco's Margaret Riley were the men's and women's winners in the Most Senior Executive category.
Another capacity crowd of 17,500 will be on hand on June 22 for the second Corporate Challenge in Central Park in 2006. Handelman will be there again. Except this time he'll be taking off from the starting line.
“After seeing this, the way this race has grown, the fun people were having whether they ran 20, 30 or 40 minutes, I knew I had to be a part of it again,” Handelman, who ran for the New York Legal Aid Society in 1977, said.
New York teams at the 2005 Championship |
John Honerkamp (558 in left photo) blazes to the finish at the 2005 JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Championship. Honerkamp was the first non-Transwerk runner and the 4th finisher overall in 16:31. His quick race helped the Running Company finish third in the Male Division. Meanwhile, Emily McDonald (678 in top right photo) of JPMorgan Chase finishes in front her headquarters building, and Ana Morales (467 in lower right photo) finished 7th overall for Morgan Stanley. |
Competition, Inspiration Propel
Pienta and Stamps to Course Records
NEW YORK, June 23, 2005 – One winner was inspired by her college classmate and Olympic gold medalist Kerri Strug. Another was motivated by good, old fashioned one-upmanship.
On a cloudless, shirtsleeve early summer evening made for romantic strolls through Central Park, more than 15,000 runners from 500 companies took the competitive route instead, celebrating World Olympic Day at the 29th annual JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge. Amidst the gold-medal winning guests were many stories of inspiration and competition, none more compelling that those of the men's and women's champions.
Joe Pienta of New York Running Company, an athletic shoe and apparel retail store, had noticed that Rafael Veras of Super Runners Shop – a direct competitor – had won the first JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge the night before. Veras' winning time was 17:58. The bar had been set.
“I don't know him personally,” Pienta, a University of Albany graduate, said of Veras. “But, yes, the time was out there and there was definitely a feeling that I wanted to beat the competition from another store. That's what this is all about, isn't it?”
And Pienta succeeded in his personal challenge, delivering bragging rights to him and his retail colleagues with a winning time of 17:35. Veras and Pienta could settle this mano a mano (so to speak) at the October 1 JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Championship on Park Avenue. Both New York Running and Super Runners will be virtually certain qualifiers.
“I didn't know what to expect tonight,” said Pienta, a JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge rookie. “But I got into the spirit of this pretty quick.” Since these were the first two Corporate Challenge events held on a newly-designed 3.5-mile course that finished stunningly near Bethesda Fountain, Pienta will carry a course record throughout the rest of this year.
The same is true for Julia Stamps, the 2003 JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Championship winner. Representing the non-profit Little Baby Face Foundation, Stamps broke the women's tape in 19:31, besting the effort of Lesley Higgins of BSIU/DOI by 12 seconds.
Star-Studded Classmates
Stamps is one the most accomplished high school runners in U.S. prep history, and followed that up with four productive years at Stanford. While at Palo Alto, she met, befriended and studied with another sociology major – Kerri Strug. Strug went on to win Olympic gold in gymnastics at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, and has proven to be an inspiration to Stamps.
So it was probably no coincidence that Stamps ran so well on a night where Strug was on hand, rooting her home from the finish line. The golden girl was one of the special guests representing NYC 2012 – the committee behind New York City 's bid for the 2012 Summer Games – on World Olympic Day.
“I had a good career in running through four years at Stanford and then I had a (skateboarding) accident that put me on the sidelines,” said Stamps. “It
changed my life, but it also opened some other doors for me, allowing me to take a business path that led to New York.
“Once I got here, three years ago, I discovered that New York has the strongest running community I have ever seen,” Stamps continued. “That brought my competitive spirit back. Now, seeing Kerri here tonight, I realize that I should keep my Olympic dream alive. It's not too late.”
Hardly. Stamps earned her victory by a whopping 89 seconds over second-place finisher Ana Morales of Morgan Stanley. Stamps has her focus on the New York City Marathon in November and from there will re-evaluate her running career.
Right now she is more professionally satisfied than ever before with the work she does for the Little Baby Face Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that provides assistance to families of disfigured children.
“With the sociology studies at Stanford, whenever I had the opportunity to get into non-profit work, I do,” said Stamps. “It's one of the most rewarding jobs out there. I love it. It's great to see how you can change the life of another.”
“Something Bigger Than They Are”
Women's champion Julia Stamps (left) poses with her Tiffany Award and Catherine Keating, of the JPMorgan Private Bank. |
Two-time Olympic swimming gold medalist Donna de Varona, also representing NYC 2012, fired the starting gun for an event that served as a benefit for the Central Park Conservancy.
“These runners want to be involved in something that's bigger than they are,” said de Varona.
Robert Granick, a supervisor for the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, definitely found his own version of gold at the finish line.
“A lot of us are not in the best of shape,” said Granick. “We work behind a desk and we need to get out more often. The Corporate Challenge gives us a structured opportunity to do that. A month and a half ago my colleagues were thoroughly out of shape. Now I look around and I see people a lot better looking than they were, including me.”
Granick also exercised his creative side, overseeing a clever t-shirt design that earned his company one of three $500 awards to charity in the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge t-shirt competition. Draft and Godiva Chocolatier were the other winners.
Wesley Edens of Fortress, who was the male Most Senior Executive champion, feels that all 15,000 participants were the real champions.
“Just getting outside and doing something good for yourself, in a hectic business world, is the most important thing,” he said. “I've been on the road a lot lately, working hard. But making it here was very important to me. Winning my race was just a nice bonus.” Terri Bischoff of the Red Cross joined Edens in the MSE winner's circle with the women's title.
“The great thing about this event is that every day of the year, all New York City corporations compete against each other,” said Mary Callahan Erdoes, head of the JPMorgan Private Bank and the host on this evening. “But the Corporate Challenge is the only time corporations come together not to compete for clients, but to compete athletically and have fun.”
And all participants, their families and friends can witness the competition and camaraderie of the 29th annual JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge on the July episode of RUNNING on the YES Network. Highlights from the two nights in Central Park will be featured throughout the month with a minimum of 20 airings. The first two will be on Saturday, July 2 at 6 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.
“Most Vibrant” Central Park Event
Celebrates Teamwork with Olympic Style
Lobo is simply one of the most beloved female athletes ever in the metropolitan New York area, so it was perfectly appropriate for her to be on the start stage as one of the official starters for last night's 29th annual JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge in Central Park.
After the sold-out crowd of 15,000 runners from 500 companies raced off from the West Drive starting line, Lobo talked about the value of teamwork.
"In basketball, you have no success without teamwork,” Lobo, one of the original WNBA standouts for the hometown New York Liberty, said. “While there are individual stars, without the team there are no victories. And, while running is an individual sport, the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge is all about teamwork."
“For a corporation to succeed, a great team effort is required,” she continued. “It's the same out here on the roads of Central Park. The winning effort will be a team effort.”
The women's individual winner on this night, Lesley Higgins, an investigator for the Building Special Investigations Unit/Department of Investigations, can relate to Lobo's comments. She crossed the finish line – dodging intermittent rain drops en route -- with a superb time of 19:43, 16 seconds faster than Kathleen Jobes of Rodale Press. But she would not have even been eligible to compete in this event without her teammates.
“Honestly, my biggest thrill is that I have eight teammates here with me,” Higgins said. “We did not enter a team last year, and there are only a handful of runners in our office. But I knew this would be a good thing for us as a group to compete in and I'm so grateful that my colleagues came out to run with me.”
And those colleagues were nearby at the Awards stage, making a pleasurable ruckus as Higgins accepted her Tiffany Award for finishing first. She was joined by men's winner Rafael Veras, who earned the men's title in 17:58, wearing the colors of Super Runner's Shop. Veras is a perennial top 10 finisher at this event and had placed sixth in 2004 and second in 2003.
Having Daneyko and the Olympians on hand was the perfect complement to a dressed up Central Park staging area. JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge event organizers tweaked the 3.5-mile course to have the finish line at Bethesda Fountain. Finishers were then led into an expansive Hospitality Village that featured designated tent and team meeting locations and a festive post-race party.
Adrian Benepe, the Commissioner for New York City Parks & Recreation, gave his seal of approval to the new site lay-out.
“For 29 years the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge has brought thousands to the park,” Commissioner Benape said, “and it has never been more vibrant than tonight. Fifteen thousand fitness runners in the JPMCCC in Central Park showed the energy and enthusiasm of New Yorkers. Their support of the Central Park Conservancy is what makes the event so special for all New Yorkers.”
Indeed, the participants were doing something good for themselves, and for all residents and visitors alike who relish a stroll through Central Park. JPMorgan Chase made a donation for each of the 15,000 participants to the Central Park Conservancy, the organization that manages, preserves and restores the world's most spectacular emerald rectangle.
Seth Merrin, the CEO of Liquidnet, a leading alternative trading system, was proud to have 65 members of his company's 110-person workforce in Central Park and they particularly enjoyed the hospitality with a prime tent location near the Awards stage.
“This makes the event so much more festive,” said Merrin. “It's much more than just a run. It's a happening now.”
And woman's winner Higgins nearly set a record. Her time of 19:43 ties for the second fastest for all women in the 2005 JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Series. The only woman with a quicker pace to the tape this year was Boston College's Amy Mortimer, who raced home in 19:08 at the Boston event on June 7.
“Amy is one of my best friends,” said Higgins, a member of the Colorado University national cross country championship team in 2000. “She is a year younger than me and she spent a couple of summers in Boulder (near Colorado 's campus). If I have to be second to somebody in time, I'm glad it's a good friend.”
“But,” Higgins added quickly, “I plan on calling her and saying her course was short.”
Higgins, now just about two years into her job with the Building Inspections Unit, had finished second at the 2003 JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge while in the employ of another company. She ran a 20:33 on that day, 50 seconds slower than her winning effort on this night. Perhaps the Olympians were motivation.
“There was a special feel to the night,” Higgins said. “But it is unlike any other road race. This is all about team.”
Email this page
Print this page
