An enthusiastic crowd of 5,995 J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge entrants ran out of the office to spend an afternoon at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center celebrating workplace camaraderie. Wei Wenzhong of the Bank of Communications broke the tape first in the men’s race, with Dai Qian from Tiffany leading the women. The collective effort benefitted the Ai You Foundation.
The seventh annual J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge in Shanghai held the honor of closing the 41st consecutive season of the Corporate Challenge Series.
A Shanghai capacity crowd of 5,995 runners and walkers from 190 companies brought the total 2017 J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge Series attendance to 248,937 entrants from 7,334 companies. Over one million members of the worldwide workforce have donned Corporate Challenge runner numbers in the last four years, including the Series-record gathering of 267,960 in 2014.
With a November date in the Northern Hemisphere, Shanghai’s race flagged off an hour or so before sunset at 3:30 p.m., the earliest start of a regular Corporate Challenge event in Series history. The cool autumn breeze provided the perfect setting for the Shanghai business community to come together to enjoy an evening of fun and fitness.
The ideal running conditions saw Wei Wenzhong from Bank of Communications finishing the race in 19:28 minutes. “This is my first time taking part in the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge and I had a very good race,” Wenzhong said. “I led the pack from 200 meters until the end. This is a great event and I’m very happy to be part of the race.”
Dai Qian from Tiffany and Co. led the charge for the female runners, with the winning time of 24:02. She said, “I’m really happy, this is my third time participating, the first two times I only managed to get second and third respectively, so I did not expect to be able to win this time. The Corporate Challenge is really good, it allows us to participate with colleagues and it’s a great event for team building.”
After the race, all participants enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere of the signature post-event village, where runners networked and mingled with their peers, building connections between companies and colleagues.
China International Fund Management had the largest number of employees on the race course, with an impressive 406 entrants. Shanghai Disney Resort registered 300, followed by Eaton (255), Molex (183), Bosch China Investment Ltd. (179), Avnet (129), Maserati China (117), Ping An Asset Management (117), China Pacific Life (117), Bose (103), and FIS China (100).
For the fourth consecutive year, J.P. Morgan in China will donate in celebration of Corporate Challenge participants to Ai You Foundation. This year’s donation will go towards a pilot program that will focus on the healthcare sector, driving curriculum development, training delivery, practice and encouraging employment that are practical and demand driven.
“We are very appreciative of the Shanghai business community who came together again to support the cause of a healthy work-life balance,” said David Li, Chairman and CEO of J.P. Morgan China. “Not only is this a great opportunity for us to foster camaraderie and teamwork spirit, through our partnership and donation to the Ai You Foundation, we hope the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge also encourages all participants to be more aware of what they can do to help develop the local community.”
The complete schedule for the 42nd year of the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge Series will be announced in early 2018. Check back to www.jpmorgancc.com regularly for updates or follow the Series on Facebook.
