Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- While the title of Wall Street’s best athlete eluded John Withrow, the bond trader at Macquarie Group Ltd. came away a winner at the charity decathlon after raising almost $100,000 for cancer research.

“That was my goal when I came into this,” Withrow said in a telephone interview. “I was hoping to do a higher number than that, but the reality is that it brought in a lot of money and that was the main reason we were doing it.”

Withrow, a three-time All-America wrestler at the University of Pittsburgh, had focused on one of the decathlon’s 10 events -- a triceps exercise known as ‘‘dips’’ -- in collecting pledges from friends, family and colleagues.

The 33-year-old Withrow said he was exhausted after the first five events, yet ignored cramping in his legs to complete 66 dips -- 20 more than any other competitor -- and come away as the top fund-raiser at the Oct. 23 decathlon in New York benefiting Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong Foundation.

Withrow said his pledges may exceed $45,000 and that Macquarie, Australia’s biggest investment bank, likely would match the final amount. Withrow placed sixth overall among the 30 traders, bankers and advisers who were competing for the unofficial title of Wall Street’s best athlete.

The top finisher was Kyle Peterson, a first-year associate at Sage View Capital LP and a late addition to the competition.

Late Entry

The 24-year-old Peterson gained entry a day before the decathlon when an investment banker pulled out to complete a major deal over the weekend.

Peterson finished a distant second to Withrow in the dip competition, in which participants hold onto two bars at waist level with their arms extended and then lower their full body weight before pushing up again. He was also second in the football throw for distance and accuracy, third in the 800-meter run and third in the vertical jump.

Peterson said the victory was especially satisfying because his father, Craig, has late-stage prostate cancer and his own competitive outlets have been limited since a ski accident in high school effectively ended his athletic career. A star shortstop and wide receiver as a teenager, Peterson planned to play football at Cornell University before the accident, which left him in a coma for two days and required brain surgery.

“I haven’t really been competing at a top level since high school, so it was good to get out and get competing again at something,” Peterson said in a telephone interview. “They put together a great event for a good cause.”

Peterson finished with 6,814 points to beat out Robert Mohr of Equinox Capital Management LLC (6,763) and Evan Odim of Citigroup Inc. (6,720).

Unique Events

While the Wall Street Decathlon featured track staples such as sprints at three distances, it also had events like the dips, vertical jump, football throw, basketball free-throw shooting, an agility drill, pull-ups and bench press.

The sprints, vertical jump and football throw were held at New York’s East River Park in the morning, while the strength events, free-throw shooting and agility drill were conducted in the Reebok Sports Club on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

“I didn’t realize how much the morning events took out of me,” Withrow said. “Doing a 400 (meter) and an 800 doesn’t seem like much, but when you’re doing it in a competitive pace with a bunch of other guys, it really took a lot out of me. I guess I have something to work on for next year.”

The next Wall Street Decathlon is in the planning stages for spring of 2010, said Marc Hodulich, who helped organize the event with Dave Maloney, his former track teammate at Auburn University.

Goal Met

A consultant at Towers Perrin, the 29-year-old Hodulich said there’s “a good chance” this year’s decathlon will meet the fund-raising goal of $250,000.

LiveStrong was founded by Armstrong, who won a record seven Tour de France cycling races after recovering from cancer. It has raised more than $250 million since 1997 to help cancer patients.

Hodulich and Maloney have plans to expand the Wall Street Decathlon, possibly increasing the field to 50 or 75 competitors from 30. They also foresee a time when regional qualifying competitions are held in cities such as Boston and Chicago as a prelude to the final in New York.

Those in the financial-services industry aspiring to be the next winner can’t just focus on athletic training, though. Participants likely will be required to meet a specific fund- raising goal in advance.

When the time comes again to crown Wall Street’s best athlete, Withrow and Peterson exemplify the type of competitor they’re seeking, Hodulich said.

“There are going to be guys who want to compete for just the competitive standpoint,” Hodulich said. “We want guys to realize the bigger picture. It’s about the competition, but it’s about how that can help us raise money for cancer.”

                            STANDINGS
                        (Top 10 finishers)
                        ==================
 1. Kyle Peterson     Sage View Capital      6,814
 2. Robert Mohr       Equinox                6,763
 3. Evan Odim         Citi                   6,720
 4. Ted Towle         Equinox                6,689
 5. Tony Leondis      N/A                    6,560
 6. John Withrow      Macquarie              6,494
 7. Dave Maloney      Co-organizer           6,332
 8. Reed Staub        Morgan Stanley         6,306
 9. Henry Kim         JP Morgan Chase        6,227
10. Nicholas Hall     Citi                   5,880


                             RESULTS
                  (Top five finishers per event)
                  ==============================

400-Meter
---------
1. Ted Towle            0:55 seconds
2. Dave Maloney         0:58
3. Reed Staub           0:59
4. Robert Mohr          1:00
5. Stephen Hallenbeck   1:01

Football Throw
--------------
1. David Sparks          58 yards
2. Kyle Peterson         57
3. Henry Delouvrier      56
4. Henry Kim             53
5. Tony Leondis          52

40-Yard Dash
------------
1. Robert Mohr           4.79 seconds
2. Reed Staub            4.85
3. Evan Odim             4.87
4. (tie) Tony Leondis    4.88
   Ted Towle             4.88

800-Meter
---------
1. Ted Towle             2 minutes, 6 seconds
2. Dave Maloney          2:26
3. Kyle Peterson         2:29
4. Evan Odim             2:32
5. Reed Staub            2:36

Cone Drill
----------
1. Kirby Fine            7.40 seconds
2. Robert Mohr           7.50
3. Tony Leondis          7.60
4. Evan Odim             7.70
5. Reed Staub            7.80

Free Throws (15 attempts)
-------------
1. Evan Odim             14
2. Tony Leondis          13
3. (tie) Henry Kim       12
   Kirby Fine            12
5. Ted Towle             11

Dips
----
1. John Withrow          66
2. Kyle Peterson         46
3. Jeremey Cook          45
4. Henry Kim             44
5. Jehanzeb Hussain      41

Vertical Jump
-------------
1. Tony Leondis          35 inches
2. Brad LeClair          34
3. Kyle Peterson         33
4. (tie) John Withrow    31
   Stephen Hallenbeck    31

Pull-Ups
--------
1. Brad LeClair          22
2. Nicholas Hall         21
3. Dave Maloney          20
4. Henry Delouvrier      19
5. Robert Mohr           18

Bench Press (Number of reps by body weight)
-------------------------------
1. Robert Mohr           25
2. (tie) Tony Leondis    21
   Stephen Hallenbeck    21
4. Nicholas Hall         20
5. Jehanzeb Hussain      17


To contact the reporter on this story:
Erik Matuszewski in New York at 
matuszewski@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 26, 2009 00:01 EDT