The Bay Area is business friendly and full of camaraderie again, and the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge is evidence of that.

The 39^th running of the Corporate Challenge – and the fifth that included a race start adjacent to the Chase Center, with post-race hospitality within the home of the Golden State Warriors and Golden State Valkyries – hosted an impressive crowd of 7,549 participants from 272 companies. That represented a 32% increase in total entries from 2024 (5,734/278).

“We restate our commitment to the Bay Area every year by owning and operating the Corporate Challenge here in San Francisco,” said Tim Moffet, Managing Director, Head of Syndicated Finance, JPMorganChase. “It is a 12-month labor of love planning for and executing this fantastic team road race, and we are honored that so many of our clients, competitors and other friends in the business community join us.

“This is a commitment that we’ve been making annually since 1986,” Moffet said, referring to the Corporate Challenge’s debut event at Justin Herman Plaza. “And it is one we will continue to make long into the future. We are all together in this business community, all the time.”

JPMorganChase further showed its emotional investment to the event and the region by registering 1,062 of its employees. There were several other formidably sized companies on the starting line adjacent to Chase Center, including Visa (450 participants), Gap (336), OpenAI (230), BioMarin Pharmaceutical (163), Salesforce (130), Cooley (109), QuantumScape (97), Franklin Templeton (96), Strava (92), and Stripe (90).

The J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge San Francisco has shown remarkable resilience following a two-year layoff due to the 2020-21 COVID pandemic. When it returned in 2022 on a trial basis, it hosted 4,066 runners and walkers. The number rose to 5,361 in 2023, before the slight increase to 5,734 last year. This 32% increase in 2025 illustrates that the Bay Area business community has reinvented itself once again. The 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake, the 2008 financial crisis, and the COVID pandemic were all significant obstacles that the Corporate Challenge – and its loyal following of companies – successfully overcame.

The larger crowd featured many outstanding runners. Paddy O’Leary, representing MBC BioLabs, earned the male individual title, breaking the tape for the 3.5-mile race in 17:05 (4:53 mile pace). Greta Anderson, running for Williams Sonoma, was the female champion with 19:49 (5:40 pace). And Dolby’s Tamlyn S earned the non-binary title with a time of 26:03 (7:27).

Corporate Challenge co-sponsor Athleta invigorated all participants at a pre-race warmup in Bayfront Park, and Athleta also provided a cheer zone on the Embarcadero race course along with a post-race cooldown zone in Thrive City.

“Athleta was proud to sponsor the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge and lead Gap Inc.’s participation,” said Athleta President and CEO Maggie Gauger. “Over 300 teammates came together, celebrating our pride in this company and our San Francisco roots. The event embodies what Athleta stands for — harnessing the power of movement to unite people, strengthen community, and drive positive impact where it matters most.”

For the fourth consecutive year, JPMorganChase partnered with Eat. Learn. Play. as the Corporate Challenge San Francisco beneficiary. Founded in 2019 by Stephen and Ayesha Curry with the belief that every child deserves more and should be given the opportunity and support to reach their full potential, Eat. Learn. Play. works within the Oakland Unified School District to  support children’s wellbeing through access to nutritious meals, quality reading resources, and

San Francisco represented the start of the stretch run of the 2025 J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge Series. Five events remain, with the Series scheduled to visit four continents in trips to Philadelphia (October 9), Sydney (October 22), Hong Kong (October 30), Buenos Aires (November 13), and Shanghai (November 20). Through the first 11 events of 2025, the Corporate Challenge Series has drawn 204,133 participants (18,557 average per event), an increase of 3% over the 198,251 attracted through the same 11 events in 2024.