South Africans dominate 26th running
of Series Championship on ideal fall day
Results | Photo Gallery

Tshamano Setone wins a furious stretch battle to capture the Male title at the 2008 JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Championship on New York's Park Avenue. Setone first had to chase down Phil Wicks of London's Legal & General, then pull away from Goldfield's Olebogeng Masire to win by a second.

NEW YORK, October 4, 2008 — South Africa dominated the 26th running of the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge® Championship, held under pristine fall conditions on Park Avenue.

Transnet Rail Engineering, representing Johannesburg, earned the men's and women's team titles. Their South African counterparts, Goldfields, earned the mixed team crown.

Completing a sweep of the top awards, Tshamano Setone of Transnet won the men's individual crown, covering the 3.5-mile course in 16:03. Transnet's Catherine Nkosi broke the women's tape in 18:52.

It was the first time that either Setone or Nkosi took top individual honors, but Transnet is in a very familiar spot. They have won the men's team title five consecutive years. The Transnet women and Goldfields mixed team were earning their first Championship first-place honors.

Times were swift thanks to 55-degree, wind-free conditions. A total of 517 men and women from the six countries in the JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Series finished.

The men's race was exceptionally competitive throughout the last mile. Phil Wicks of London 's Legal & General took the lead coming out of the Helmsley Building, but Setone and Goldfield's Olebogeng Masire surged past in the final 800 meters. Setone made his winning move in the final 20 meters to nip Masire by one second. Wicks was third in a solid 16:08.

Nkosi also prevailed at the line, outleaning teammate Violet Raseboya for a one-second triumph. Gloria Baeba, also of Transnet, was third in 19:16.

Crosby Freeman of Google in San Francisco was the top men's U.S. finisher, placing ninth overall in 16:48. Katarina Melville, representing Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation in New York, was the first American woman in 19:40.

Other country champions:

Australia : Charlie Low (McGrath Nicol + Partners, 11th man, 17:14 ); Renee Fortunato (Calvary Health Care, 11th woman, 20:27).

England : Wicks (Legal & General, 3rd man, 16:08); Lara Bromilow (HSBC, 9th woman, 20:12).

Germany : Raphael Schafer (Ministry of Sport, 5th man, 16:24 ); Katja Potthof (Roche Diagnostics, 12th woman, 20:51).

Singapore : Chui Chin Tan (SAFSA, 81st woman, 24:11); Mark Forgeron (Singapore American School, 133rd man, 20:52).

Scenes at a fall classic (clockwise from top): The start of the 26th JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge Championship on Park Avenue, members of London's Deloitte team show off their knee-high Union Jack socks, and SAS from Singapore gets into the team spirit prior to the start of the international final to the 2008 Series.