CDR team gets trainers on for the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge
With our t-shirts on and trainers tightly fastened, the CDR team set off to make their way to Battersea Park to participate in the 5.6km London event of the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge.
It was clear an event was taking place at the park as large groups of corporate runners with water bottles, bright company neon sport tops and iPods in hand were visible at every turn. Needless to say, the atmosphere was electric. Loud music boomed from the hospitality tents, a Tannoy speaker continually updated us with relevant race information and of course the competitive edge remained ever-present as those extremely crucial stretches began.
As race time approached, we said our ‘good lucks’ to each other and made our way towards our start positions – differing by colour dependent on your expected race time. The starting pistol went off and then the wait began for each colour section to make their way up to the starting line – with 15,000 people participating this took a while.
As the race begun we took a route running parallel to Prince of Wales Drive, turning alongside the Thames and Chelsea Embankment then winding our way back into the park itself. It certainly helped that along the way we witnessed a large number of official and unofficial supporters cheering us on, including those from Age UK, the chosen beneficiary for this year’s run.
Making it to the 5k point was challenging, especially as the last 0.6km was where we needed to really push ourselves physically and mentally – to not only complete the race but to try to pick up the pace to finish on a high. Once through the finish line there was utter relief as we tried to catch our breath and were able to collect our J.P. Morgan official finisher t-shirts as a congratulatory token.
The race was over in what felt like a few minutes yet we had achieved an enormous amount. For those who regularly commit themselves to runs of this nature, this might have felt like a walk in the park – excuse the pun – but for those who have not, it was a real accomplishment.
Indeed there were individuals within the CDR team who had never done a course of this kind before and taking on this challenge, where in essence you have no choice but to finish the task at hand, was brave. What’s more, to complete the challenge with a work team resulted in an achievement on both a personal and professional level. As a consequence there is now talk of additional runs in the future as people have clearly caught the bug, so here’s to keeping up those fitness routines and reliving this memorable experience all over again.
