The race has maintained its original ideals since it began in 1985 by focusing on teamwork, camaraderie, physical fitness and competition. The number of participating teams have grown from the original 19 in 1985 to nearly 300 which includes over 8000 runners.
Investments into R&D are key to maintaining and/or improving competitiveness for the long term, and Honeywell spent about $2.1 billion on it in 2016. If You Can't Beat 'Em, Buy 'Em Honeywell has a market capitalization of about $99 billion.
Honeywell was at one time a company that I would have considered to be preeminent in its desirability as an employer. Today, the company has been in a long-term cycle of driving results in a low growth business environment, which means it increasingly relies on reducing cost to drive operating income.