Heading to Johannesburg for the Series Championship after helping their teams win division titles in San Francisco are Google's Matt Kane (1987) and General Electric's Michael Little (754) and Benjamin Mulvaney (755).

Google, GE, Sports Basement
win final spots in Series Championship

NEW YORK, September 30, 2009 — It didn't take long for the word to get out that the first JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Championship to be held outside of the United States was going to be a hot ticket.

Following the announcement on September 8 that the Championship will be held on March 4, 2010 in Johannesburg, South Africa, elite teams with a chance to qualify in the last race of the 2009 season at San Francisco put themselves on notice. This was a prize worth running after — very fast, if necessary.

“To be honest, it's pretty big,” Crosby Freeman of Google noted moments after crossing the finish line in 17:14 to win the men's individual title at San Francisco on September 16.

While Freeman handily won the individual title, he, of course, did not know which team won the Men's title that he and his Google teammates were chasing. But finally, the waiting is over. The results of the San Francisco team races are now official and Freeman and his Google teammates are … heading to Johannesburg.

Google won the Men's title by 3:50. In the Mixed division at San Francisco, General Electric chalked up an even easier win, finishing more than seven minutes ahead of its closest competitor. And in the Women's division, Sports Basement showed incredible depth in taking first place by more than 12 minutes.

Google, General Electric and Sports Basement complete a roster of 36 teams — three from each of the Series' 12 cities — that will pack their bags and head for South Africa to run a championship far from the classic venue of New York 's Park Avenue.

When she announced the change in the Championship venue, Barbara Paddock, Senior Vice President for JPMorgan Chase & Co., the owner and operator of the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Series, said that the world's longest running and most successful corporate series was continuing to look for exciting innovations.

“We believe this move will not only be well received by the participating companies, but also signal that the Corporate Challenge Series is stronger than ever,” said Paddock.

The response in the wake of her announcement indicates she was squarely on the mark.

“A trip to Johannesburg sounds amazing, and to be able to represent Google would be fantastic,” Freeman said. “It's great that JPMorgan Chase would be willing to do that for companies.”

The complete roster for teams at the Series Championship in Johannesburg on March 4 is:

Visit www.jpmorganchasecc.com often in December, January and February as we provide a feature look at the participating companies from each city.