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The J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge is an annual series of 3.5-mile (5.63 km) road footraces owned and operated by JPMorgan Chase, with an intended focus on promoting fitness, camaraderie and team work to employees of local businesses and organizations. Teams are organized by company or organization, and the JPMorgan Chase Foundation celebrates the participants by making a donation to local charities.
The Corporate Challenge was founded in 1977 by Manufacturers Hanover with a single race in New York City, with 200 runners from 50 companies. It has since grown to include 13 races in seven countries on five continents, with total participation in 2016 of 254,501 entrants from 7,624 companies.
The events are all-inclusive of skill levels and age, with nearly equal amount of racers, joggers and walkers. Throughout the 2016 Series, participation was 51-percent male, 49-percent female. Nine of the 13 Corporate Challenge races in 2016 achieved a full capacity of entrants and most had a pre- and post-race hospitality component, where companies could gather to celebrate their participation.
The J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge Series enjoyed its 40th consecutive year of operation in 2016. Through all 40 years, the Corporate Challenge has been owned and operated by J.P. Morgan and its predecessor firms. Manufacturer Hanover was the title owner of the Corporate Challenge from 1977-91. The event was called the Chemical Bank Corporate Challenge from 1992-95, the Chase Corporate Challenge 1996-2000, the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge 2001-10, and by its current name, the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge, since 2011.
The unifying event of the Series is the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge Championship, which features the first-place men's, women's and mixed teams from each of the 13 Series cities. The Championship was first held in 1983, and the 33rd Championship was held on June 1, 2016 in New York's Central Park. Coolboy Ngamole of Sibanye Gold (Johannesburg) and Sara Donahue of Abt Associates (Boston) earned the men's and women's individual titles. Sibanye, Corning (Rochester, NY) and Strava (San Francisco) captured the men's, women's and mixed team titles, respectively.