WASHINGTON – The 42nd ACLI Capital Challenge road race Wednesday raised a record $200,000 for Junior Achievement USA.
“Thanks to generosity of our sponsors and the more than 660 people who participated in this year’s ACLI Capital Challenge, we’re making a difference in the lives of millions of kids,” said American Council of Life Insurers President and CEO Susan Neely. “We always enjoy the friendly competition between our nation’s leaders at the Capital Challenge. But the true champions are the 4.4 million kids in all 50 states served by Junior Achievement.”
The three-mile race in Anacostia Park featured members of the legislative, executive and judicial branches of the federal government, the Washington press corps and other guests.
For the first time ever, three Supreme Court Justices participated: Brett Kavanaugh, Ketanji Brown Jackson and Amy Coney Barrett. White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients ran as did Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough. Solicitor General of the United States Elizabeth Prelogar also ran as did Carol Spahn, Director of the Peace Corps.
Representative Greg Casar (D-Texas) and Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-Ariz.) were the fastest members of Congress. In his Capital Challenge debut, Rep. Casar finished in 19:33, more than a minute faster than any other member of Congress. Sen. Sinema was the fastest female member of Congress finishing in 23:07. She’s been the fastest female member nine times.
Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) was the fastest male senator and Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) was the fastest female representative. Other members of Congress participating included Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Mike Levin (D-Calif.), Chris Pappas (D-N.H.). and Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.)
Sen. Sinema’s team was the fastest in the Senate, while Rep. Pappas’s team was the fastest in the House.
Wayne Jacobs of the FBI captained the fastest team from the executive branch. Justice Kavanaugh captained the fastest team from the judicial branch. The fastest electronic media team was captained by Anamaria Sayre of NPR. The fastest print media team was captained by Emma Kumer of The Washington Post. The Post team also was the fastest team overall.
Jack Miller from The Washington Post was the fastest overall runner, finishing in 14:30. Morgan Foster from Rep. Stanton’s team was the fastest female, finishing in 16:49.
Ultramarathoner Camille Herron served as the official “whistle blower” to start the race. She then joined the race in the middle of the pack and ran to support the participants.
A complete list of participants and race results is available at CapitalChallenge.com. Additional information about the race is available on Twitter/X at @ACLINews, on Instagram @aclicapitalchallenge and via the hashtag #CapChallenge.
Supporting race sponsors included ACLI member companies: Allianz, Athene, Boston Mutual, Brighthouse Financial, Canada Life Re, Corebridge Financial, Genworth, Global Atlantic Financial Group, Guardian, Hannover Re, Jackson, John Hancock, Lincoln Financial, MassMutual, MetLife, M Financial, Nationwide, New York Life, Northwestern Mutual, OneAmerica, Pacific Life, Penn Mutual, Primerica, Principal Financial, Protective, Prudential, RGA, Royal Neighbors, Sammons Financial, Security Benefit, Security Mutual, Swiss Re, Symetra, Thrivent, Transamerica, Unum, USAA and Voya. Other sponsors included Akin Gump, Invariant and CQ/Roll Call.
The American Council of Life Insurers (ACLI) is the leading trade association driving public policy and advocacy on behalf of the life insurance industry. 90 million American families rely on the life insurance industry for financial protection and retirement security. ACLI’s member companies are dedicated to protecting consumers’ financial wellbeing through life insurance, annuities, retirement plans, long-term care insurance, disability income insurance, reinsurance, and dental, vision and other supplemental benefits. ACLI’s 275 member companies represent 93 percent of industry assets in the United States.