Several thousand runners and walkers took part in Tuesday night’s J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge in downtown Rochester. There was a little rain, and it was relatively cool, which probably helped some people with their finish times.
But it was about more than just competition. This event, the 29th annual J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge in Rochester, is really promoted as more of a team building event than a race.
In fact more than 300 companies and other organizations took part, fielding nearly 7,800 runners and walkers.
Among them, Kathryn Warren who works at the College at Brockport.
“We really did a push at Brockport to bring a bunch of people out, of course I like getting out and exploring the city and also working out a little bit, but really just being here with our big community, our big group representing Brockport, we’re super excited,” Warren said.
John Rafte works for LiDestri Food and Drink and he says that company also had a lot of employees taking part in the fun.
“We have a record number of participants this year, so it’s a good sign, people are conscious about living healthy,” Rafte said.
The 3.5 mile course wound through parts of downtown Rochester including the Inner Loop. It has been downtown for the last three years, before that, it was at RIT, and prior to that course it was in Highland Park.
Trisha Byler, running for DuPont, earned her third consecutive women’s individual title, breaking the tape in 19:52. The first place men’s finisher was Tim Chichester, representing Arkport Central School, with a winning time of 17:22.
A donation was made by J.P. Morgan to United Way of Greater Rochester in celebration of the participants. The corporate challenge series is in 13 cities in seven countries, and organizers have often said the Rochester turnout is larger than a number of other communities.
