Today, 15 USTR staff members ran in the 29th Capital Challenge, a three-mile race for runners from the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Federal Government, and the media. Proceeds from the race benefit the Special Olympics of Washington, DC. Under race rules each team must have a senior official of the agency as its captain. The three USTR teams were led by Ambassador Miriam Sapiro, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative; Stan McCoy, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Intellectual Property and Innovation; and Luis Jimenez, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Legislative Affairs. USTR teams included runners from nine offices within the agency.
Teams from the agency placed sixth, 23rd, and 24th among teams from the executive branch. “Fast Trackers” took sixth place honors, while “Deal Makers” and “Left in the DUSTR” finished in 23rd and 24th places, respectively. Clete Willems from the General Counsel's office placed 6th overall (out of 580 runners) and Joseph Laroski, from General Counsel's office as well, placed 31st overall.
According to race organizers, this was the first time the agency had entered teams in the race in over 15 years. USTR, a relatively small agency with only about 200 people, had the second highest number of teams in the executive branch.
