June 12 (Bloomberg) -- Minutes after Sean Swift won the annual JPMorgan Chase Corporate Challenge this week in New York’s Central Park, he fired off a text message to last year’s champion.

“Thanks for not running this year,” Swift, 24, wrote to his friend Karl Dusen, an analyst at American International Group Inc. who took the title in 2006, 2007 and 2008. “Maybe now I’ll get a bonus.”

Dusen had a good excuse: AIG, on the hook to the U.S. government for loans included in a $182.5 billion bailout, didn’t sponsor anyone for the 3.5-mile (5.6-kilometer) charity race this year. The fallout meant that Dusen, the only runner with a three-year winning streak in an event held in 12 cities over five continents, had to cheer Swift from the sidelines.

“I’m disappointed I didn’t get to defend the title,” Dusen, 26, said yesterday in a telephone interview. “I understand that with what’s going on, there’s bigger problems than me not getting to run.”

Swift, an analyst in New York-based JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s commodities group, beat 15,000 other runners on June 10. After cooling off for about 15 minutes, he text-messaged Dusen, a teammate on the Manhattan Track Club. They run together several times a week.

“I would have liked to run against him,” Swift said. “I don’t know if I would’ve beaten him.” Swift won in 17 minutes, 45 seconds -- 17 seconds longer than Dusen’s time in 2008.

Shooting for Olympics

Dusen plans to compete in the New York Road Runners club championship and the New York City half marathon in August, and his long-term goal is to win a spot on the Olympic team during trials held in 2011. He has worked for New York-based AIG’s asset-management unit for four years.

First among women runners was Megan Guiney of Real Estate Capital Partners, according to the race Web site. She finished in 19 minutes, 54 seconds.

On the second day of racing last night, Jeffrey Rios of engineering and construction firm Davis Langdon won in a time of 17 minutes, 29 second. He is also a member of the Manhattan Track Club. First for the woman was Katarina Janosikova of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., who won in 19 minutes, 44 seconds.

AIG got an $85 billion emergency credit line in September after a cash squeeze caused by wrong-way bets tied to subprime mortgages. The insurer posted a $99.3 billion loss last year. Mark Herr, an AIG spokesman, declined to comment.

‘Cracking Down’

“Certain things this year just went away, like the company softball team, the basketball team,” Dusen said. “It’s just kind of understood at this point, especially with everyone cracking down” on corporate spending.

JPMorgan took $25 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program funding in October and was approved this week to pay it back.

More than 30,000 runners from almost 900 firms ran over two nights in Central Park. On June 10, teams as small as four participants competed against JPMorgan’s 1,100-member squad, Morgan Stanley’s 899 and Bloomberg LP’s 753.

Wall Street bankers, traders and accountants, along with employees of insurers, publishers, drugmakers and search-engine firms ran the race.

The Corporate Challenge began in New York in 1977 with 200 runners from 50 companies. The event raises money for local charities, including the Central Park Conservancy, the nonprofit group that manages the 843-acre (341-hectare) park in Manhattan.

To contact the reporters on this story: Hugh Son in New York at hson1@bloomberg.net; Josh Fineman in New York at jfineman@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 12, 2009 08:16 EDT