The 11th running of the J.P. Morgan Corporate Challenge was held this evening with a capacity crowd of 16,861 runners from 356 companies. The number of entrants is a record for this race, which has grown 59-percent since 2009 when it attracted 9,924 entrants.

Stuart Haynes of Morgan Stanley was the men’s individual winner in 18 minutes 21 seconds while Suzanne Walsham of Symantec successfully defended her women’s title with a course record of 19minmutes 25 seconds. The 5.6km race began on the Esplanade Bridge and finished adjacent to the F1 Pit Building at Marina Bay.

“The Corporate Challenge is testament to our commitment to this market, growing from strength to strength since its debut in 2004,” said Edmund Lee, Senior Country Manager for J.P. Morgan. “We’re proud to join our clients, colleagues and competitors in the business community to do something healthy and fun.”

Deloitte won the largest participation award with a whopping 892 entrants, followed by StarHub (680); PricewaterhouseCoopers (651); ANZ Bank (555); BNP Paribas (381); Visa (297); SAP (286); DBS (230); Barclays (220); and Credit Suisse (200).

J.P. Morgan made a donation on behalf of each entrant to Operation Smile Singapore, the third consecutive year that organization has served as the beneficiary. Lawrence Wong, Acting Minister, Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth and Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Communications and Information, flagged off the runners from the Esplanade Bridge.

The Corporate Challenge debuted in Singapore in 2004 and since has been held every April. This year’s race is also part of J.P. Morgan’s year-long celebration to mark 50 years of doing business in the city.