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V O L . X X I I I N O. I X H E A LT H Y B U S I N E S S 6 T he TD Beach to Beacon K, founded by Olympic Marathon Gold Medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson, a Cape Elizabeth native, is one of Larry Wold's favorite days of the year. " ere is an energy and an excitement around the starting line of an event like this that's kind of inde- scribable," says Wold, the Maine state president for TD Bank, the event's title sponsor. "You can't help but feed o the energy and enthusiasm of the whole crowd." e rst race debuted in with , runners crossing the nish line. e race drew almost , runners from countries and states along with thousands of spectators and volunteers. Since its inception, the event has raised ,, distributed by the TD Charitable Foundation, for Maine charities. But, as corporate challenges become more wide- spread, there's a another key factor that goes with the charitable giving: team building. About of Beach to Beacon participants run as part of the Business to Business Challenge. "It's been interesting to get people to understand that they don't have to be trained, competitive run- ners to be part of the corporate challenge," says Wold. "We've had a number of people feel intimidated by it. But we love to have their involvement, whether they're running competitively or casually." Fostering fun, keeping employees healthy e corporate sports challenge appears to be growing in popularity in Maine as an opportu- nity to foster teamwork in the workforce in a fun and healthy setting. One of the nation's largest such events is the J.P Morgan Corporate Challenge, which last year had , participants from , companies in road races in seven countries, according to the company's website. J.P. Morgan's view is that competing collec- tively adds team-building aspects that appeal to cor- porate leaders and encourages new runners, building connections and relationships outside the o ce. Larry Wold, TD Bank's Maine president, in green, joins fellow runners on an overpass near the Back Cove in Portland. They are training for the TD Beach to Beacon race that's held in August. P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Building work relationships through team challenges Corporate teams blend work and (hopefully) fun Progressive • Creative • Forward Thinking • Resourceful Progressive • Creative • Forward Thinking • Resourceful Progressive • Creative • Forward Thinking • Resourceful Come See Why Brewer Means Business. Your Business. BREWERMAINE.GOV/BIZ Contact D'arcy Main-Boyington Economic Development Director dmain-boyington@brewermaine.gov | 207-989-7500