Members of mixed team champion Memorial Sloan-Kettering pose with their awards.

CHICAGO, May 24, 2012 — Transnet Rail Engineering and Memorial Sloan-Kettering are the team champions of the 29th running of the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge Championship, held on an unseasonably warm spring evening at Grant Park.

Transnet, representing Johannesburg, earned both the men's and women's titles. Samuel Segoaba, Benedict Moeng, Pule George Mofokeng and Zamisa Nkululeko compiled a team time of 1:07:22 in the men's division, besting Scholarbook of Frankfurt, Germany by more than five minutes (1:12:30). San Francisco's Google was third in 1:14:09.

The Transnet four winning women were Violet Rasaboya, Thozama April, Gloria Baeba and Takalane Nthulane. They combined for a winning time of 1:26:59, fighting off a gallant bid of the Boston Fidelity Investments squad (1:27:43). Polizei Hessen of Frankfurt earned a solid third in 1:30:09.

Memorial Sloan Kettering brought the mixed team title home to New York. William Walkowicz, Joel Schrock, Erin Maloney and Lindsay Van Alstine combined for a time of 1:21:38, allowing them to fight off Goldfields of Johannesburg (1:22:55). Boston's Procter & Gamble finished third in 1:24:11.

The Road to the Championship

For an in-depth look at the Championship qualifiers, please see our “Road to The Championship” Series of stories, featuring Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Frankfurt, Johannesburg, London, New York, Rochester, San Francisco, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Syracuse.

Transnet's Segoaba and Rasaboya were the respective men's and women's individual champions, breaking the tape in 16:28 and 19:42 respectively.

The men's competition was dominated in the front of the pack by overseas runners. Johannesburg had the first five men — Segoaba, Moeng, Paul Thipane of Goldfields, Mofokeng and Olebogeng Masire of Goldfields. Bradley Croker and Brett Cartwright of Swimming Australia in Sydney then crossed before the first U.S. finisher, Justin Lutz of Raytheon. Overall, international runners took nine of the first 10 spots on U.S. soil.

On the women's side, Rasaboya was tailed by a pair of Boston runners — Melissa Nash and Kaitlin Anelauskas of Fidelity. Susan Ireland of Sydney Water was a strong fourth followed by another Boston runner, Procter & Gamble's Lisa Teklenburg.

The 29th J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge Championship was the third in the current format of rotating cities in the Series. The 2010 Championship was conducted in Johannesburg and 2011 in Singapore.

From 1983-2008, the Championship was held annually in the metropolitan New York area, with the last 24 events held on Park Avenue in midtown Manhattan. Chicago was chosen as the 2012 location for its outstanding support of the Corporate Challenge through the years. The Chicago race, which took off five minutes after the Championship starting horn, featured 23,030 participants — the largest single-night U.S. event in the Series.

Participants in the 29th annual J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge Championship - and the first held outside of New York in the United States - gather in front of the Chicago skyline.