Raid CentraleSupélec

The event

The Raid is organised for students and company managers from diverse backgrounds to promote informal exchanges between students and companies. This event is very physically demanding and requires appropriate preparation. The selection of the teams is mostly based on the previous sporting performances of the competitors in order to ensure high sports performances during the race.

Sports

Each year the Raid encompasses three main sports:

These three events are present each day; you can also find sections of white-water sports or sports with ropes from time to time.

A typical Raid-day is as follows:

A ceremony is held every evening to end the day, to introduce the partners and the teams and to reward the best competitors of the day. A closing ceremony is held on the last evening and awards are given to the winners. There are also other specific prizes.

The VIP day

A VIP day, less sportingly demanding, enables student teams to meet the HRs of the different partners at the midday checkpoint and during a VIP meal in the evening to meet and exchange resumes.

A few figures

History

The Raid CentraleSupélec was founded in 1999 under the name ‘Raid Total Centrale Paris’. Students from the engineering school Centrale Paris had the idea of designing a sports event gathering students and professionals from the corporate world. The Raid was then the first French student organization to obtain the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 double certification; it was ranked tenth in the ‘Le Point Etudiant’ French student associations rankings.

The 2012 edition

The fourteenth Raid Centrale Paris edition, the Val de Durance edition, took place from the 22nd to the 27th of April 2012; it crossed the towns of Guillestre, Chorges, Gap, Curbans, Saint-Genis and Sisteron, in the Alps.

The 2013 edition

The fifteenth Raid Centrale Paris edition, the Pirineus edition, took place from the 5th to the 10th of April in the Eastern Pyrenees; it crossed the towns of Matemale, Vernet-les-Bains, Prades, Vinça, Maureillas-las-Illas and Collioure.

The 2014 edition

The sixteenth Raid Centrale Paris edition, the Helvetia edition, was the first one to take place in a foreign country. It took place from the 27th of April to the 2nd of May in S witzerland ; it crossed the towns of Château d’Oex, Gruyères, Schwarzsee, Thun, Brienz and Sarnen.

The 2015 edition

The seventeenth Raid Centrale Paris edition, the Provençalpes edition, took place from the 26nd of April to the 1st of May 2015; it crossed the towns of the Verdon Gorge.

The 2016 edition

The eighteenth Raid CentraleSupélec edition, th e Arvernis edition, took place from the 22nd to the 27th of April 2016; it crossed the towns of Riom, Volvi and Le Mont-Dore (France) in the Puy-de-Dôme.

The sites of the Raid since 1999

April 10th 2008: the anniversary day

A special day was organised in la Défense on April 10, 2008 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the event. It enabled the Raid staff to present the Raid to companies of the business section and it also enabled everybody who had participated to the nine previous Raid editions (competitors, members of staff) to meet again to share their memories.

The Prologue

Since the 2006 edition a day of sports events is organised every year in February or March just before the Raid, called the Prologue. From 2006 to 2013 it took place in Île-de-France. About 200 competitors, all from the student world, compete in teams during a Raid-like day:

In 2014, the Prologue was a little bit different: it was organised in the Loire valley. The competitors arrived at 11pm on March, Friday 7th. They ran at night for about 10 km. On the Saturday the event looked like every other Prologue. Checkpoints were located near castles. The Prologue enables competitors to ‘warm up’ before the Raid which is held about two months after. It’s a day where student teams meet and train for the Raid. It allows students not sufficiently trained to run a five-day race to experience a Raid-like day.

The locations of the Prologue since 2006

The Saclay Night N' Day

In 2017, the Prologue became the Saclay Night N' Day. It's a 24 hours event in Vallée de Chevreuse that starts with a night run on friday evening and a race on saturday composed of several loops with trail, mountain biking, orienteering and others activities that the teams can choose to do in the order they want. Every loop or activity gives points to the team and the ranking is unveiled during the saturday evening ceremony, with movies and pictures of the event.

The organisation

Each edition is organised by a different team of 30 CentraleSupélec second year students and 70 first year students. The staff is divided into different sectors led by a 2nd year students (Itinerary, logistics, security, communication, companies, competitors, international...) dealing with a specific task of the Raid. During the Raid responsibilities are redefined every day to enable 1st year students to get more responsibility. Finally, about a month after the Raid handovers enable 1st year students to take over the work. The quality process and the continuous improvement have been rewarded in 2009 with the ISO 9001 certification.

The Raid and the environnement

In the Raid, environment matters. That’s why the Raid dedicates a day to the environment on the race. Moreover, most of the chosen regions are preserved areas that need to be respected. These efforts were recognized in 2005 with the ISO 14001 certification. Waste is sorted on each Raid event and measures are implemented to limit fuel and paper consumption. Furthermore, a part of the disposable dishes are biodegradable to limit waste production. The Raid measures their Carbon footprint each year to limit their environmental impact year after year.