In honour of Year of Family

“We are one big family”

Last Sunday will remain in the memory of the company’s employees and their family members for a long time. It became clear from the first minutes of the event that the day would be full of emotions and impressions.

Brutal men in leather jackets rode out to the site of Ilyinka to the roar of motorcycle engines. Director General of the enterprise Maxim Novikov chaired the procession. Having made a lap of honour, the bikers lined up and greeted the participants of the event.

“Make more noise,” Maxim Novikov addressed the audience. “We are a loud, friendly, fun company. We will make ourselves known to the whole world. Industrial victories are forged with the help of strong and healthy people. And today we are holding our traditional Sports Day, Family Day. Let’s show once again how creative and united we are. We are one big family, and let there be love, peace and prosperity in our families!

A little later, Maxim Novikov admitted to Realnoe Vremya’s correspondent that he started ridind an iron horse more than five years ago. Despite his busy schedule, he tries to find time to go for a ride. For example, he also rides a motorcycle to meetings in Kazan.

“Children need to be educated from an early age and shown good examples.” You can give them phones so they can sit on the sofas. And you can give the opportunity to touch iron, sit on a bike, dream about something, so that in the future they will definitely go towards your goal,” emphasised Maxim Novikov.

Leader of the free motorcycle community of Nizhnekamsk Ilnar Abukaev also expressed good wishes to the participants.

“Motorcyclists, welcome! I would like to note that it means a lot when the head of a large company travels with you in the same procession and talks with you as equals. Today we are invited to your sports festival. Don’t be shy, approach the motorcycles, take photos as a memento and chat with the bikers. Children, my recommendation for you is to buy motorcycles in the future. A car carries the body, and a motorcycle carries the soul. And one more thing: always remember the traffic code. Be attentive and careful on the roads,” he highlighted.

“The weather is wonderful. The mood is great!”

But the most interesting was yet to come. Having divided into 16 teams, the participants went to sports and entertainment stations. The tasks were designed for any age. Some of them were attended by Parents completed some of them with their children, while in others children competed against adults.

Before the start of the competition, professional coached did a general warm-up to energetic music.

“Warming up before training is an important part of any effective sports activity, which is necessary for athletes of any age. Over the years, muscles become less flexible and joints get more fragile. The main goal of any warm-up is to warm up the body and prepare it for the upcoming exercises,” coach Evgenia stressed.

Production preparation engineer at Petrol Plant Nadiya Khasanova came to the event with her daughters. The girls did not let their mother sit still for even five minutes, they were afraid to miss all the fun. They danced bachata, showed flexibility in yoga, pedalled on the Cycle simulator, jumped on trampolines, lifted dumbbells and played jangga together.

“Ugh, I’m tired,” Nadira said barely catching her breath. “I haven’t done so much sport for a long time. We really like everything. The day is simply amazing. The weather is wonderful. The mood is great!”

There really was plenty of entertainment for children. Victoria, 5, learned how to create figures from balloons. Timofey, 10, can ride an electric scooter on his own. Gleb, 15, learned the rules of making a fire in the forest at one of the sports stations. The little ones drove cars.

Spouses Ruslan Sultanov and Elina Sultanova showed one of the best results in their team. They have been involved in sports since childhood and inculcate healthy habits in their children.

“A strong family is the main value in life, which is a stronghold of love, wisdom, mutual respect, responsibility, devotion to each other. It is in the family that a person gets to know the world around him or her, absorbs the spiritual and moral traditions of the people, learns to love the Motherland and the loved ones,” Ruslan shared.

“It’s great that we have the opportunity to spend the day-off with colleagues and our loved ones. “We didn’t expect there to be so many surprises,” his wife Elina added.

There were also delicious surprises at the event. For example, cotton candy and popcorn — eat as much as you want, as well as a refreshing summer cocktail made there.

“It’s very tasty,” said Gordey, 8, sipping a cocktail through a straw.

“Let’s add part of our soul”

While some participants in the event were finding out who was tougher and stronger, others were showing off their cooking skills. Four teams cooked pilaf on a fire.

Team Swimmers included four creative and creative employees of the enterprise. Before the start of the culinary battle, they had met several times, discussed the nuances of preparing the dish and purchased food for original presentation.

“I love cooking at home, treating my loved ones and relatives. Colleagues offered to take part in the master class, and I immediately volunteered to help. We developed a special recipe for preparing pilaf. I won’t tell you about the secrets, that’s why they are secrets,” said operator of a unit at the Heavy Residues High Conversion Complex Renal Khamidullin while stirring boiling oil in a big cauldron.

Captain of team Molecule of Taste who is also a unit foreman of the Heavy Residues High Conversion Complex section Artyem Matyushkin, on the contrary, willingly talked about all the nuances of preparing the dish.

“As Eastern people say, there are as many types of pilaf as Islamic countries. We have our own skills, we have a formula. We will use our own twists and add part of our soul. Everything will be at the molecular level. Our team is called Molecule of Taste for a reason,” he highlighted.

Process safety engineer Dmitry Filippov volunteered to be the cook on team The Little Cooks. He cooked one of the most famous Uzbek types of pilaf — Fergana. According to him, the dish does not tolerate any sweet additives.

“Pilaf is my signature dish! Before the start of the competition, I had gone to the countryside and practised cooking pilaf four times. I combined business with pleasure, so to speak. We will add our own ingredient to our dish — special rice grown on the border of three countries. These are Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Our pilaf will be the most authentic, without garlic and barberry. There will be only two spices — salt and cumin,” said Dmitry Filippov.

Team Culinary Creators also prepared an unusual presentation of the dish — with songs and dances.

“We all cook pilaf at home, it turns out very tasty. However, we are cooking on such a scale as today for the first time. 22-litre cauldrons are very large. I hope everything works out. We have prepared an original presentation with a musical composition,” noted occupational safety specialist Irina Permyakova.

Professional chefs supervised the cooking process, and a competent and, most importantly, unbiased jury was entrusted with evaluating the dishes.

“The dishes will be evaluated by a panel of judges consisting of leaders of our enterprise as well as guests of the event. The evaluation criteria and the number of points awarded will be from one to 10. The jury will evaluate how vegetables, meat are cut, the presentation of the dish and, of course, the taste. All our participants are trying hard, well done! I’m ready to hire many of them in the canteen,” said canteen manager Elena Burundukova with a smile.

Volunteers, athletes, creators

After walking in the fresh air and feeling pleasantly tired, the participants took a short break for lunch. Hot broth, fresh pastries with tea provided some energy for new feats.

The well-fed participants sat around the central stage in anticipation of a festive concert. The award ceremony for the company’s most active employees — volunteers, creators, and athletes –was also held here.

“The athletes who won silver in the corporate race of the Samara stage of the extreme Hero Race competition are invited to the stage. It should be noted that the oil refiners competed against almost fifty teams from several regions of Russia,” the hosts announced.

In Samara, at Roshchinsky training site, athletes had a 9-kilometre long track and 30 different obstacles. Ring Wheels, Double Rotation, Rotating Supports, obstacles made of water and mud are some of them. The final trial was a rope climb up an 8-metre Everest hill.

“Our team and I have opened a new season, so to speak,” Andrei Kembel, electrician of the HRHC shared his impressions. “Many thanks to our management for the opportunity to participate in such an event. The team was tuned for success, we helped each other and supported each other throughout the entire race. Unfortunately, at the last stage, at Everest, the judge stopped our participant citing that there were many people at the top, and we lost a precious minute that cost us first place. The route itself seemed quite easy. As usual, there were a lot of monkey bars, I would have liked more water obstacles. In general, I liked the race, but because of the incident at Everest, there was a slight aftertaste. We are starting to prepare for Hero Race in Kazan. Samara showed us our weak points that we need to work on.”

“The best day of my life!”

Perhaps, the announcement of the winners of the culinary duel was the most intriguing thing that day. So after long discussions, it was decided to award first place to team Culinary Creators. They scored a record 65 points captivating the jury members not only with their culinary abilities but also with their creative approach.

“It is very unexpected! All teams deserve first place! Thank you very much for your trust and appreciation of our work. It was cool, great, friendly. We helped each other, smiled,and were happy. We liked everything. “Everyone is delighted,” admitted Gulnur Kurbangaleyeva, a chemical engineer at a sanitary and industrial laboratory after the award ceremony.

“We are glad to participate in such events. We want this to continue,” laboratory assistant Karina Zangirova added.

“I notice more and more that we are united more and more, getting to know each other better. It is very pleasant to attend such events. I hope that cooking will become a tradition. We will continue to do our best to achieve victories,” concluded mechanic Damir Zakirov.

However, there were no losers that day. According to the participants, it was a real sports festival that lasted almost five hours. Everyone achieved personal victories, showed their capabilities and were charged with positivity and a good mood.

“The emotions are overwhelming! Today we have gone through all the stations, drove cars, passed traffic rules, prepared cocktails, inflated balloons and did exercises as a family. It’s impossible to list everything!” Ilnar Nafigullin and Irina Nafigullina shared their impressions.

“Today was the best day of my life!” said their son Daniel.

“And mine!” his brother Alexander supported him smiling widely.