It was a night to hit the city streets in full celebratory mode. The 30^th running of the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge Frankfurt falls in the centennial year of event owner and operator J.P. Morgan doing business in Germany and the ensuing party was huge, and memorable.

“Two magnificent milestones and one very prideful race night,” said Stefan Povaly, Head of Germany and Senior Country Officer for J.P. Morgan. “Our firm is 100% committed to putting on a Corporate Challenge that meets the business standards we have set for a century here in Germany. And to see this 5.6km celebration of workplace fitness and camaraderie so enthusiastically embraced makes every minute of work worthwhile.”

The final number of entries was appropriate for such significant milestones. Exactly 63,435 racers, joggers and walkers from 2,186 companies registered to compete over the 5.6km (3.5-miles) race course. This represented a 15% increase in the total number of entries from 2023 (55,153) and the largest Frankfurt attendance since 2017 (63,776).

Since debuting in June 1993 on a dirt path along the Main River, the Frankfurt J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge has become a country-wide phenomenon in Germany.  It grew from 527 entrants in 1993 to 13,326 in 1998, then skyrocketed to 51,031 in 2002. It topped 60,000 for the first time in 2006 and stayed above that number each year until the COVID-19 pandemic shut things down for two years (2020-21).

Now the event is not only back to full health, but it’s setting an admirable standard for the entire J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge Series. Frankfurt’s crowd on this night, for instance, was larger than the four 2024 Corporate Challenges held to date in the United States combined (62,253 entries, total).

“It’s not an exaggeration to say that the Corporate Challenge has become part of the DNA of Europe‘s financial capital and a highlight of the city’s annual sports calendar,” said Stefan Behr, CEO for J.P. Morgan SE. “Well over one million members of the Frankfurt business community have worn Corporate Challenge bib numbers in the 21^st Century, and you can clearly see that nothing can slow down the enthusiasm for the event.”

Lufthansa, the flagship airline carrier of Germany, had the most employees at the starting line – an impressive 1,745. DB/VDS (1,300) and Deutsche Bank (1,102) also reached four figures. Other big supporters included Sanofi (872), Commerzbank (716), Stadtverwaltung Frankfurt am Main (623), Universitätsmedizin Frankfurt (579), KfW Bankengrupe (564), PwC (561), and Deloitte (550). J.P. Morgan has 397 registered employees.

Frankfurt not only is the largest event in the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge Series, thus far in 2024 it is also the fastest.

The average individual finish time of 37:34 on this night was the best in the Series thus far, through seven locations. And the women led the way.

Amelie Svensson, representing Deutsche Bahn/VDES, won her second consecutive Corporate Challenge female individual title in Frankfurt, breaking the finish tape in 19:08. Runner-up was Ursula Trutzschler from architect firm Albert Speer & Partner, with a time of 19:12.

Svensson and Trutzschler are now the two fastest women in the 2024 Corporate Challenge Series. In fact, six of the 10 fastest women in the Series this year ran in this Frankfurt race.

The men were impressive in their own right. Josh Tolsdorf, representing ODDO BHF, was the individual male champ in 17:17, fighting off a good challenge from DZ Bank’s Bjorn Dollman (17:23). Tolsdorf and Dollman are now fifth and eighth among fastest Series males this year, and Frankfurt boasts three males in the top 10.

All entrants will have their efforts rewarded in the community as J.P. Morgan will donate in celebration of the Corporate Challenge Frankfurt to Laureus Sport For Good Foundation, which uses sport as a tool for social change, and Deutsche Behindertensportjugend (DBSJ), the umbrella organization for all people with disabilities who play sports in Germany.  This year’s race marked a decade of partnership with DBSJ).

The 48^th year of the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge Series continues on Thursday, June 13 in Buffalo, New York. That will be the eighth location of the year, the exact halfway point in a Series that will ultimately visit 16 locations in eight countries on all six inhabited continents.

But none will be as large in terms of entries as Frankfurt.