Biggest Field Ever to Compete Nov. 4 for 'Fastest Company in Silicon Valley' Title in the Comerica Corporate Challenge at The 2007 Metro Silicon Valley M...( Genentech to defend title as 238 runn...),Health

Genentech to defend title as 238 runners with 33 corporate teams compete in

speed, size, and spirit categories this Sunday

SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The 2007 Metro Silicon Valley Marathon(R) announced today that the field for the third annual Comerica Corporate Challenge this Sunday will be the biggest ever, with 33 corporate teams competing.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010807/CMALOGO )

The race will take place on Sunday, Nov. 4 as part of the 2007 marathon event on the San Jose-to-Los Gatos course. The marathon and half-marathon begin at 7 a.m. at the corner of Park Avenue and Almaden Boulevard, San Jose.

The 33 companies with an expected 238 runners include defending champion Genentech, which has not lost since the competition began in 2005. The companies are expected to field teams of runners at several distances, including the half-marathon, the distance at which the winner of The Comerica Cup, which goes to the "Fastest Company in Silicon Valley," will be determined.

Genentech's three half-marathoners last year recorded a cumulative time of 4:45:25, compared to its three-runner total of 4:16:37 in the inaugural event. Comerica Bank won the prize for the largest corporate running team last year, a prize won by Team Yahoo! in 2005. The corporate challenge event has grown since that first year, when 150 runners from 15 companies competed. A prize also will be given to the fastest women's team. Second and third-place prizes will be awarded in each category.

Teams competing this weekend include Adobe Systems, Apple, Applied Materials, Cisco, Google, IBM, Kaiser Permanente, Oracle, San Jose State University, SAP, Sun Microsystems and Yahoo. To qualify, a company had to have at least five runners sign-up for any combination of the marathon, half- marathon, and 5K run/walk races.

In add
'/>"/>