The most powerful woman in the world, Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, came to town to join a kickoff party at Rotisserie Georgette. for the Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles du Maroc, the all-women off-road competition, The next rallye, the group’s 27th event, takes place between March 17 and April 1, 2017 the Moroccan desert.
Lagarde, as guest of honor, was joined by Dominique Serra (founder of the Rallye Aïcha Des Gazelles Du Maroc). Christine Cachot, Liza Bensimon, Camille Biedermann Roizen, Denise DeLuca, Nezha Larhrissi, Luiza Petre MD, Marie-Noelle Pierce, Abderrafie Zouiten (director general of the Moroccan National Office of Tourism), Mardochée Devico (Président Directeur General des Conserves de Meknés), Sandra Ripert, Marie-Monique Steckel, Rita Zniber, Leyna Zniber, Kiera Chaplin, Alisa Roever, Margo Manhattan, Jean Shafiroff, Lauren Day Roberts, Paola and Arnie Rosenshein and Sara Johnson-Kaplan.
At the event Serra took to the stage to tell guests about the competition. A video showed the importance of the environmental aspect of the rallye and how it puts sustainability at the forefront of its operations for both the natural environment and local population. Another video explained the work of the rallye’s charitable organization Cœur de Gazelles, which was followed by a speech by Lagarde. She spoke of how she saw herself as the godmother to the “gazelles” (as Rallye participants are known) and about her involvement with the rallye and her commitment to its core values of empowering women, its respect for the environment, people, countries and charity.. Lagarde also noted her deepest admiration for Serra and the efforts she has put in to making the rallye what it has been for 27 years, and for being a pioneer who noted as early as 1990 how the central idea of the rallye must be sustainability.
About The Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles: Since 1990 the off-road Rallye has been bringing together women between the ages of 18 and 71 from more than 30 different countries, who depart from the French city of Nice (for the next race, on March 18th, 2017) for the Rallye in the Moroccan desert. The event is developing a new vision of automobile competition: no speed and no GPS, just old-fashioned navigation, completely off-road. The Rallye respects its scenic host country and its people through the actions of the Rallye’s non-profit, Cœur de Gazelles, as well as the environment: the Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles is the only motor Rallye in the world with ISO 14001 certification.