Et would be an exciting race: a Tyrannosaurus Rex against the fastest competitor in the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge. Because according to the findings of paleontology, the star among the dinosaurs, which is very popular with children today, was up to 19 kilometers per hour. At the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge last year, Simon Stützel was the first to cross the finish line of the 5.6-kilometer route in 16:40 minutes – at an average speed of just over 20 kilometers per hour. So it’s actually a pity that the Senckenberg researchers didn’t succeed in bringing the museum’s landmark to life and registering it for the run.
Instead, the model of the T-Rex will be able to follow the finish line at the Senckenberg facility as a spectator as the runners approach the finish line at the nearby Bockenheimer Warte. The dinosaur should at least be dressed in an oversized shirt in the design of the run on Wednesday evening, when the run opens at 7 p.m. at two starting points near the Alte Oper.
Twelve runners in dinosaur costumes
“JP Morgan and Senckenberg ultimately refrained from this action,” the company said. “To ensure the safety of all runners, JP Morgan has adjusted the measures.” The reason may be a planned protest action by the “Koala Collective”, a group of climate activists who during the run “protest against the financing of climate-damaging fossil fuels by JP Morgan “Want, as a spokeswoman for the FAZ said. “On the one hand, the dinosaurs symbolize the bank’s backwardness. On the other hand, they draw attention to the fact that numerous animal and plant species have already become extinct due to man-made environmental destruction and that over a million species are currently threatened with extinction.”
As a sign of protest, the activists send twelve members in dinosaur costumes on the running track. They don’t want to reach 19 kilometers per hour – instead, the heads of the 55,000 registered runners from more than 2000 companies, mainly from the Rhine-Main area, including a 99 runners strong FAZ group. On a banner on a pedestrian bridge over Eschersheimer Landstraße, the organizer is also said to be “Climate Killer No. 1”. The activists emphasize that they do not want to disrupt the run.
Since the edition initiated by a predecessor company in New York in 1977, JP Morgan has now organized 15 company runs worldwide and is defending itself against the allegations. “The fight against climate change is an important cause that JP Morgan fully supports,” the company said when asked. “JP Morgan supports the transition to clean and sustainable energy supply and to a CO2-poor economy. In the past two years alone, we have made 175 billion US dollars available for this purpose. It is not yet possible to guarantee energy security exclusively with clean energy sources. We are actively working with our customers on their transition plans and will have committed $1 trillion to green initiatives by 2030.”
The organizers paid out several hundred thousand euros to three funding partners. The proceeds from the Frankfurt run, which traditionally has the most participants in the world, go to the long-standing partners Deutsche Sporthilfe and German Disabled Sports Youth, as well as to the new partner Laureus Sport for Good, which is using it to support two lighthouse projects in the Rhine-Main region: “Football meets culture”, the with Eintracht Frankfurt in schools, as well as “Futbalo Girls”, the largest girls’ soccer initiative outside of organized sport. Fittingly, soccer world champion Nia Künzer will be there as a Laureus ambassador at the starting gun.
After around 170,000 euros were raised in 2022 at the first edition after the pandemic with a comparatively small number of 24,000 runners registering, the sum generated from the participation fees paid by employers should be many times higher this time.
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