The River Thames and Chelsea Bridge serve as stunning backdrops for the sold-out crowd at the 31st J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge in London.

The 31st running of the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge on Wednesday, July 5 and Thursday, July 6 drew a capacity crowd of 28,674 total entrants from 733 companies to leafy Battersea Park along the River Thames.  This was the sixth consecutive year the Corporate Challenge achieved a full capacity of entrants.

The Corporate Challenge debuted in London in 1987 and has been held in Battersea each year since 1992.  It was the originator of using a run and post-race party to emphasize the value of workplace fitness and camaraderie.

On July 5, HSBC had the largest contingent of entrants with 852, following by Ernst & Young (410), Citi (402), PwC (402), UBS (317) and Barclays (292).

Lara Bromilow represented that huge HSBC team with pride, winning the women’s competition over the 3.5-mile (5.6km) course with a time of 20:25.  It was Bromilow’s fourth Corporate Challenge title, adding to a trophy collection that also included first-place finishes in 2008, 2014 and 2015.

Andy Greenleaf, running of Julius Baer, won his third Corporate Challenge men’s division title in 17:21.  Greenleaf’s first J.P. Morgan title came in 2009 when he ran for Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.  He also won in 2015 while running for Capco.

The largest company on July 6 was Bank of America/Merrill Lynch with 593 entrants, with Goldman Sachs close behind with 500.  Morgan Stanley brought 426 to the starting line, with impressive showings also from BNP Paribas (423), Credit Suisse (350) and Nomura International (279).

The race course headline on that night was written by Stephanie Davis of King Street.  She ran a splendid 19:23 and earned her third consecutive J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge women’s title in Battersea.  In 2018, she’ll have the opportunity to match the performance of Punter Southall’s Emily Wicks, who won four straight years, 2011-through-2014.

Jonathan Poole, running for Commerzbank, earned his first Corporate Challenge title, winning the men’s division in 17:17, the fastest time over the two nights over Battersea’s cross country-styled course.

Event owner and operator J.P. Morgan was the largest participant over the two nights, with a whopping 2,029 total entrants.  This is the third time in 2017 J.P. Morgan has topped 2,000 total employees at a Corporate Challenge event, including Chicago (2,535 on May 25) and New York (2,023 on May 31-June 1).

J.P. Morgan also commemorated the efforts of all participants by donating to Cancer Research UK. The national charity funds over 4,000 scientists, doctors and nurses who work to save more lives by preventing cancer, diagnosing it earlier and developing new and kinder treatments.  Cancer Research UK’s work has led to some of the biggest breakthroughs in cancer treatments such as advances in chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery.

The J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge Series, marking its 41st consecutive year of operation in 2017, heads back to the United States on Tuesday, July 11 for the 27th running of its Rochester, New York stop.