Race Review: The JPMCC 2019 | PrisChew Dot Com

Last Thursday evening, the 16th edition of the annual 5.6KM J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge Singapore took place, beginning at the St. Andrew’s Road in front of the National Gallery in the historic Singapore Civic District.

Click here to view the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge 2019 photos

Largest Corporate Sports Event Worldwide

A global running series owned and operated by J.P. Morgan, the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge began in July 1977 in New York’s Central Park and is the longest-running corporate sporting running event in the world.

The race takes place annually in 13 cities across seven countries on five different continents and promotes corporate fitness, teamwork and camaraderie amongst colleagues and clients.

This year, the Singapore race was the first stop in the series, flagging off just six hours before the Johannesburg race which took place on the same date.

14,369 Employees From 423 Companies Participated

As well, the Singapore race had attracted a total of 14,369 employees from 423 different companies with Deloitte & Touche bringing the largest contingent followed by SAP with 350 runners.

Overall this is the highest number of Singapore firms to take part, in the history of the Singapore edition of the race.

Said Edmund Lee, Senior Country Officer, J.P. Morgan Singapore, “The strong attendance by companies and their employees is testament to the spirit of the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge and its commitment to bring together the corporate community for an evening of healthy competition, camaraderie and teamwork.”

He added “Taking place in the middle of the city at the end of the work day, the event enjoys tremendous support from the community and we are proud of its success as Singapore’s largest corporate running event by participant numbers.”

Ran In The 5.6KM Race

Thanks to J.P. Morgan, I had the chance to take part in the 2019 event.

Reaching Civic District Early

With the race scheduled to flag off at 5pm in the evening, I got to the Civic District at roughly 4pm.

According to my calculations, this would have given me plenty of time to calm down and get a good spot in the start pen – before the run proper was due to commence.

Raining

However, soon after I had reached the Civic District, it began to drizzle and there were flashes of lightning in the sky, too.

It seemed like deja-vu to some extent – because I recall that there had been rain at the past two editions of the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge, too.

At that point, event host Kelly Latimer urged all the runners to seek shelter, as the rain gradually became heavier. After all, the safety of runners is always paramount in a mass running event such as this one.

The off-on rain had continued till roughly about 5pm, with runners queuing up at the gantry leading to the start pen when the rain died down, and rushed back towards the shelter when the rain came down again.

Start Pen Opens At 5pm

At 5pm, the skies had cleared up enough for the gates to the start pen to be opened – when this happened, there was complete madness, with runners pushing and shoving each other, and running as fast as possible to snag themselves a good spot near the front of the starting pen. It almost seemed as though the race had already begun!

Flagging Off At 5.15pm

We were officially flagged off at 5.15pm – as the rain seemed to have more or less passed, by this point.

Beginning My Run

Once the race began, I began to run out with the crowd, but then a few hundred metres into the race, I realised that I was running a bit too fast and I began to dial back on my speed.

Even though this was a short run at 5.6km, I was experienced enough to know what pace I am capable of maintaining over this type of distance.

Congested At The Beginning

The first couple of kilometres took us from the Civic District towards the F1 Pit Building.

This part of the race, however, was quite congested and at the same time, the lanes were quite narrow so this did not really help with my running too, especially with slower runners and walkers blocking the path and the faster runners having to swerve around to overtake them. It was pretty annoying and energy-sapping, to be honest.

Congestion Finally Cleared

But after we reached the F1 Pit Building, which was at the 2KM point of the race, the lanes opened up and the running congestion had cleared up a bit, so that had been much better in terms of my running and keeping up with my pace.

It was also at this area, that a few spectators had come out. These probably consisted mainly of friends, family and colleagues of the runners taking part in the event, but they were really motivating, having prepared signages to spur runners to keep moving, as well as calling out words of encouragement. I think I may have picked up my pace slightly at this point, due to all of these.

However I would say that compared to my marathons in Berlin and Nagoya, the spectator crowd had been small, but it was still good enough, for Singapore standards at least.

Passing F1 Pit Building

As well, I heard my name being called out when I passed by a small stage that had been located near the F1 garages… for a brief moment, I had wondered who was calling me, then when I looked up, I saw emcee Ross Sarpani there. He is a regular face at running events, having emceed at many of the major races in Singapore. I waved to him and acknowledged him, before then continuing with my run.

The second part of the run was a straight out-and-back loop that brought us from the F1 Pit Building down Republic Avenue and back.

This was not the most enjoyable part of the run and I’ll admit that I felt a bit demoralised when I was still running out and saw the race leaders and faster runners already on their way back.

Moreover it did not help, too, when I actually saw the finish line staring right ahead of me… on the other side of the u-turn point.

But I grit my teeth, tried not to think about all that, and kept myself going, telling myself that soon I would be on the return leg as well. I think that my pace had probably slowed down a little bit at this point too – possibly in order to conserve some energy for the final sprint.

Race Hydration

There had been two hydration points serving water along the 5.6KM route.

For a short run of this distance, I think that this is more than sufficient to cater to the hydration needs of the runners. Not wishing to get too dehydrated, I took some water at the second hydration stop.

The 4KM Marker

Seeing the u-turn point followed by the 4KM marker felt good because this meant that the race was almost finished.

That was definitely a relief – because by this point in the run, my heart rate appeared to be somewhat higher than it should have been, for the pace that I’d been running.

Finishing My Run

Nonetheless, with an extra bust of energy that I did not know that I had, I picked up the pace, to complete the 5.6KM run and I happily ran through the finishing arch.

It may not have been a personal best timing for me, but it was still a good run, with the post-rain weather making it cool and slightly breezy – and that had been great for Singapore standards at least.

Unfortunately though, it had still felt a tad humid for me, and as a result, I had been able to sense the humidity during the second half of the run.

Immediately upon crossing the finish arch, I needed to take a few moments for myself – to stop, bend over and catch my breath, before subsequently walking over to the finishing area in order to collect my finisher entitlements – which had consisted of a banana, bottle of water, can of 100PLUS isotonic drink, a J.P. Morgan backpack and a red coloured finisher t-shirt.

A Great Finishing Festival

One aspect that I always look forward to with regards to the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge is the finishing festival, and once again, it did not disappoint, with lots to see and do after the race.

Most of the major corporates had erected tents for their hungry employees to congregate and replenish their energy with food and drink after the run.

And everyone had seemed to be having a great time with their colleagues and clients, and I even spotted some familiar faces from the Singapore running community, too, greeting them warmly and we chatted to each other about how our respective runs had went.

As well, there had been food and drink for sale on-site, together with lively music as a form of entertainment. Once my heart rate had returned to normal, I recognised a few of the songs and was even tempted to sing and dance along – for a fleeting moment.

As I had been an invited media guest of J.P. Morgan, I had access to the J.P. Morgan tent after my run. This had been easily the biggest one within the compound.

There, I tucked into an enjoyable dinner, which had included an assortment of food items ranging from hotdogs to pasta, chicken rice, briyani, Ebi tempura, Thai-style fish, fruits and cakes.

To wash all of the food down, there was an assortment of drinks too, that had ranged from beer and red/white wine, to pink guava juice, soft drinks like Coke and Sprite, as well as plain water.

It had been all very yummy and had been a great way to replenish my energy levels after the hard run, as well as a good way to end a wonderful evening out.

Donation To MINDS Beneficiary

And keeping up with tradition, J.P. Morgan will also make a donation on behalf of all participants to the Movement for the Intellectually Disabled Of Singapore (MINDS) which had been the race beneficiary for the third consecutive year.

As one of the oldest and largest non-governmental organisations in Singapore, MINDS caters to the needs of persons with intellectual disabilities and a contingent of around 40 persons with disability represented MINDS at the 2019 race, having completed a shortened race route.

I had actually spotted some of them during my race and I would have to say that it was definitely inspiring to see them out running. If they are able to run and lead an active lifestyle, then what’s stopping the rest of us, the able-bodied persons, from doing likewise?

I Had A Great Time

Overall I have to say that I’d a great time out at the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge 2019 – and I am already looking forward to future editions of the race.

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