In the heart of the Square Mile, they competed for the crown of fastest business in the city, and it was J.P. Morgan that emerged victorious.
In its eleventh consecutive year, the sold-out London leg of the ten-city global race series saw top businesses from across the financial sector form teams of ten employees to compete in the ultimate corporate relay. A total of 1,120 employees navigated their way up staircases, through alleys and over bridges on the challenging one-mile course, passing the baton from team member to team member in their bid for victory.
The team that completed its ten cumulative one-mile laps in the fastest time was J.P. Morgan, crossing the line in a time of 55:37. Winning team captain, Jonathan Ormerod, said: "We're very excited. It's our fourth time trying and we've finally beaten Barclays. Fourth time lucky!"
Barclays, the six-time champions, came in second with a time of 57:07, and Trayport finished third, with a time of 58:20. The fastest runner on the day was Austin Roth of J.P. Morgan who ran his leg in a time of 5:05. The Fastest Mixed Team award, now in its second year, was won by On Running in a time of 1:00:35. The team captain, Olly Laws, commented "It's been an amazing experience. We finished very strong - I'm very proud of the On Running team."
In keeping with the commitment of giving back to the local community, during the post-race awards ceremony Create, the official community partner of the race, were presented with a cheque of £15,000 to support their ongoing charitable work in the East London community. Runners and their families and friends are also invited to take part in a volunteer day on Saturday 7th October to assist in transforming North Woolwich old train-station, a Grade II listed building, into a new community resource with a public space to host artist-led community development programmes.
This partnership with Create builds upon Bloomberg's service-focused commitment to the cities where they have offices, while also honoring the company's decade-long commitment to the impactful work of Create.
"Congratulations to J.P. Morgan for winning our eleventh London relay and to Create, which Bloomberg has proudly supported since 2014," said Mark Flatman, Head of Sales, Bloomberg L.P., EMEA. "It is great to see our clients, partners, employees and friends come together, and know Create will use our support and volunteer efforts through the Extra Mile programme to work on regeneration and revitalisation projects that will support London for years to come."
112 teams competed in the London leg of the global race series, which saw headline sponsor Bloomberg return for its eleventh year of sponsorship, joined by World Wide Technology as technology partner, London Executive Offices as office partner, On Running as running shoe partner, Hop Stuff Brewery as craft beer supplier, and Sporting Wine Club as wine supplier.
James Hassett, Managing Director, Square Mile Sport said: "Thank you to all our sponsors and partners who helped make the London event another phenomenal success. Our global race series is a unique sporting event which offers the perfect opportunity for the city's most competitive businesses and runners to come together for a night of camaraderie, teamwork, celebration and networking. We now look ahead to Shanghai who will be hosting their race on 29th September."
Bloomberg is the headline sponsor of the Bloomberg Square Mile Relay, now taking part in ten cities across the world, including Dubai, Hong Kong, London, New York, Sao Paulo, San Francisco, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo. Next to take the baton is Shanghai on 29th September, closely followed by Sao Paulo, who are hosting their inaugural race on 18th October. They will be followed by Singapore on 26th October, with the final race of the 2017 series taking place in Hong Kong on 9th November. For more information on the Global Race Series, please visit https://squaremilerelay.com/ [1]