They arrived four days earlier than the other

They arrived four days earlier than the other. Time to recover from the jetlag. Time, above all, learn to walk with snowshoes. When it comes straight from the Panama and that it has never seen the slightest snowflake, difficult to adapt to at the outset to top-savoyard climate. And yet... December 11, in Morzine, Panama Tropical Warriors are launched as one man in the powder. The smile to the ears and their national flag in hand. Like them, nearly 1,500 employees of GDF Suez participated 15 days ago in the great raid organized by the group in the alpine resort. For the occasion, the number two French energy will not hesitate to "privatize" the village, including all hotels was stormed by 174 teams and their supporters. Three days, Morzine and its surroundings are thus converted into enclave "gdf suezienne". On the balconies of the chalets, dozens of banners to the glory of represented different directions (60 in total), Belgian, British, German, Polish or Czech flags. And throughout this amazing atmosphere, between holiday village and "Intercity"... But a top flight "Intercity": between snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, shooting the rifle and rappelling, the GDF Suez raid rarely resembled a health walk to its participants. "All came to play, before the race was a tracker of the cru, but their true common point is that they will all suffer...".

Good atmosphere

Suffer together, to strengthen team spirit. Still, it is one of the objectives displayed by the organizers of the event, which celebrated his seventeenth birthday in Morzine. In 1991, the competition was set up by employees of the Lyonnaise des Eaux. She then gathered about 30 teams and 100 participants. Over time, the raid took the magnitude, accompanying the evolution of the Suez Group, and renamed as acquisitions and changes of perimeters.

A little less than six months after the merger with gas of France, the event was of course, this year, a special flavour. More question of rehashing the resentment accumulated over the past two years. Morzine, Gérard Mestrallet and Jean-François Cirelli have wanted to show the example by attending, with almost all of the Executive Committee, the last day of the raid.

Logistically, simply open the competition to GDF staff has doubled the number of participants. To the point of "the greatest sports event of company in the world", according to the communication from the Group Director, Valérie Bernis. Internal formidable tool of communication, the GDF Suez raid was to express "on the ground" the sense of belonging to the same group. Has therefore been made to allow the gas of France teams (within two months, more than 500 ex - GDF registered). At the same time, broadcast videos every evening on the intranet and a website dedicated to the raid helped collaborators having failed to make the move to follow the event in real-time, or almost.

On-site in any case, the old hats soon melted in the snow. Over the tests, only held the competitors and their supporters could distinguish between different trades of the Group: orange for the domestic energy France, green for Suez Environment, red for services, white for "infrastructure" gas from the former State monopoly. "It was simply the same atmosphere that before, but multiplied by two!" enthuses an Elyo employee, who had participated in the previous raid Suez. Satisfaction was also palpable in the ranks of the "gas", pestant against their windbreaker poorly adapted, but delighted with their stay, as this young GRDF subsidiary of distribution of the ex - GDF, Editor's note, that confessait have "never met colleagues from Suez before the raid. For this employee, it is safe, the merger became reality in Morzine.