Pride. Pride in their region. Pride in their company. 

Pride is the emotion on display when you ask participants to talk about the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge San Francisco. 

“Johnson & Johnson (J&J) MedTech is thrilled to have 56 participants this year,” said Steve Howland, J&J Team Captain. “As a healthcare company we know the importance of keeping fit, and this is a great opportunity to come together as a proud Bay Area J&J team to support each other in our fitness journeys.” 

“For more than 10 years, we have participated in the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge,” said Eric Tsang, Team Captain for Prologis, a real estate investment trust. “This event is a great opportunity to get to know my colleagues better and network while running the beautiful bayfront in the city Prologis calls home.” 

Solid, prideful comments like those from Howland and Tsang have been hard-earned by the Corporate Challenge, which was first held in San Francisco in 1983 and was hosting its 38^th running on this night. And, following a two-year hiatus (2020-21) due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the current edition of the popular 3.5-mile team road race is enjoying a renaissance. Attendance this year was 5,810 entries from 247 companies, a 22% increase in registered companies from 2023. 

Event owner the operator JPMorganChase brought the Corporate Challenge to the Bay Area four decades ago and has continued to evolve the event. What started in Justin Herman Plaza in the 80’s – and included stops at Fisherman’s Wharf and Crissy Field – now is conducted across the Lefty O’Doul Bridge at Chase Center. And the future looks bright. Participation is not only up in San Francisco, but by more than 20% across all 16 locations in the 2024 J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge Series. 

“It’s an honor for us to own and operate this event every year, and it’s gratifying how well supported it is by companies throughout the Bay Area,” said Tim Moffet, Managing Director, Head of Syndicated Finance, Commercial Bank at JPMorganChase. “The Corporate Challenge proves what a resilient, vibrant and healthy city San Francisco is. We love working here and racing here.” 

JPMorganChase brought the largest crowd of runners and walkers to the starting line – an impressive 806. Visa was the second largest business on hand, with 400 entrants, and their pride took the form of a house warming. 

“For me personally, I eagerly anticipate this event every year since my first participation in 2011,” said Anand Subramanian, Team Captain for Visa. “It sparked my passion for running and my foray into the world of organized races. I also witnessed a commendable growth in the event's popularity within Visa, from a modest 30-40 participants in 2011 to a whopping 400 this year. Adding to the excitement this year, the course also includes a stretch through our brand-new office, which opened its doors in June." 

Over the 3.5-mile race course that started and finished just outside Chase Center, largely featuring the Embarcadero, there were some very impressive efforts. 

Vanessa Fraser, a Stanford standout, was now proudly representing her employer HeyGen, and won the female individual title in 18:35 (5:19 mile pace). If that sounds fast to you, it sure is! Fraser’s official time was the second fastest to date for a female in the entire 2024 J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge Series, trailing only the 18:33 posted by J.P. Morgan’s Lucy Reid in London on July 4. 

In the male competition, Zach Hine – an exceptional collegiate runner at Cornell, multi-time qualifier for the Olympic Marathon Trials, and engineer at Meta – broke the tape first in 17:11 (4:55 pace). It was the seventh fastest male time in the 2024 Series and bettered Hine’s third- and fourth-place finishes in this race the previous two years. 

For the third consecutive year, the beneficiary partner for the Corporate Challenge San Francisco was Eat. Learn. Play, the not-for-profit founded by Stephen and Ayesha Curry in 2019, with a focus on improving the lives of kids and families in Oakland, the Bay Area, and across the country. The JPMorganChase Foundation donated in celebration of each Corporate Challenge entrant to the organization, and that effort inspired software titan Salesforce to continue supporting the race. 

“The Corporate Challenge is an annual favorite for us at Salesforce,” said Charles Scheinblum, Principal Video Production Manager, Salesforce. “It’s a great way to connect with our colleagues across teams, while also supporting our local community by raising funds for Eat. Learn. Play.” 

Like Salesforce, Cooley LLP has been on the starting line at the Corporate Challenge for decades. The competition, camaraderie and philanthropy is attractive draw for the well-known law firm. 

“Cooley’s Bay Area offices have proudly participated in the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge every year since 2001, when we had a 28-person team,” said Danielle Naftulin, Cooley Team Captain. “Since then, we’ve had teams as small as eight and as large as 125, like this year. Our commitment to this event reflects our core culture of respect, teamwork, giving back, and having fun together.” 

“We love coming together across both our San Francisco and our Palo Alto offices, across departments, and across seniority levels, to hit the road as a team,” Naftulin continued. “Every year, participants remark that the Corporate Challenge is one of our best events of the year, and I agree.  It’s hard to match the energy of thousands, knowing we’re raising funds for excellent local causes. We’ll be here as long as the Corporate Challenge is.”   

Exelixis, a biotechnology company headquartered over the Bay Bridge in Alameda, is another regular Corporate Challenge participant that appreciates that its entry has a meaningful impact beyond the finish line. 

“At Exelixis, our mission is to help cancer patients recover stronger and live longer. The J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge allows our participating employees to apply our One Team, One Mission philosophy as we support a charity that does amazing work for our community,” said Mike Cancilla, Senior Vice President, Franchise Team Leader at Exelixis. “As Team Captain, I am extremely proud that Exelixis continues to be one of the larger teams participating in the San Francisco race. Our employees look forward to the race each year.”   

A visit to Philadelphia on October 10 is next up for the 48^th year of the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge Series. That will conclude the United States portion of the 2024 Series, with events still remaining in four international locations on three continents – Sydney (October 23), Buenos Aires (November 7), Shanghai (November 14), and Hong Kong (November 21).