It’s been exactly five days, but athletes from Impala Platinum have not stopped walking around as if they own the streets of Jozi after outshone rival corporate teams on 31 March at the 5.6km JP Morgan Corporate Challenge race in Johannesburg, Sandton.
The streets were buzzing with corporate teams who gathered for an evening of healthy running competition, corporate rivalry and networking.
The JP Morgan Corporate Challenge is the largest corporate running event in the world. This challenge began modestly with a race for 200 entrants in New York’s Central Park in 1997 July 13 and has since grown to events in 15 cities in eight countries across all six fully inhabited continents. The world’s largest Corporate Challenge, with 73,719 participants, was held in Frankfurt, Germany, in 2008.
“Participating in this internationally renowned event was a delightful opportunity for Joburg to promote healthy lifestyle, employee wellness and expand company brands in these trying times,” said Cllr Ronald Harris, the Member of the Mayoral Committee for Community Development in the City of Johannesburg.
Companies were required to register at least four participants who met all the requirements to be eligible for first, second, or third place company team awards. Top finisher overall was from Impala Platinum, winning the challenge in 17 minutes and 13 seconds.
As participants arrived one by one at the finish point, many did not rush to go home but joined in on the post-race festivities at the corporate hospitality village at the Wanderers Club for an award ceremony as well as live entertainment.
The City of Johannesburg supported the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge by arranging road closures, traffic redirection and the fire engine and personnel required by the Events JOC to ensure compliance to Covid-19 regulations.
“As we begin to allow for more people to access sport and recreation programmes and facilities, safety is paramount. The Wanderers Club did exceptionally well in ensuring that safety compliance regulations were followed and that entrants could only participate upon the presentation of proof of vaccination or, in the absence thereof, displaying a negative Covid test (not older than 2 days),” said Vanessa Montanus, the City’s Assistant Director for Sport and Recreation in Region B.
04/04/2022