Saturday evening in Grenoble, Boucheix added a new line to his list by winning the extreme endurance race of the Ultra Tour des Quatre Massifs (Ut4M), a 173 km course with 11,500 meters of elevation gain through the Alps. Vercors, Taillefer, Belledonne and Chartreuse, which he completed in 28 hours 28 minutes!

A month ago, he won the Ultra 01 (in Ain), 172 km run in 20 h 35 min.

"Basically I just wanted to do a half-marathon", tells AFP Boucheix, evoking his beginnings as a runner, a green cap placed upside down on his head, a legacy of his student years that has become his sign. distinctive on the trails and... social networks.

Its story begins at the coffee machine of a multinational.

Young dynamic executive, Boucheix is ​​challenged by a colleague who is preparing to run an 80 km event.

It was in 2015. The Parisian, a very athletic high school student, gained 25 kg during his business studies, "breasts, rolls" which do not bother him, but his curiosity is piqued.

Alexandre Boucheix, alias "Green Cap", during the Ultra tour of the four massifs (Ut4M) through the Alps, near Lans-en-Vercors, in Isère, July 21, 2022 OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE AFP

He struggles at first but progresses very quickly.

A 10 km, then the marathon, the trail and the ultra distance.

Today, he has forty races including six victories over the last twelve months with a 43rd place on the world reference, the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB), before finishing 18th on the famous Diagonale des fous .

A good beer

"I discovered a world where you could have hallucinations like when I was on drugs, but it's legal, in the mountains, in a natural environment, doing sports that are valued by others and for yourself," he explains. he, always with a touch of humor.

The boy with an impressive flow and a childish face now juggles on a daily basis between his "excel files" and his life in sneakers in which he pushes his body to the limit.

Alexandre Boucheix, alias "Green Cap", during the Ultra tour of the four massifs (Ut4M) through the Alps, near Lans-en-Vercors, in Isère, July 21, 2022 OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE AFP

This does not prevent him from gulping down a beer in one go once the finish line has been passed, a ritual now eagerly awaited by the community which is following him more and more on the networks.

"It's amazing, it's crazy! There's a microcosm of the trail, as soon as you stand out, it can quickly do the trick".

Mehdi Mainguené, a 44-year-old Breton, is one of those who discovered trail running thanks to "Capsquette Verte".

"He is a person who shows that it is possible, an atypical profile. He has paved the way for people like me. It is a modern image of trail running", explains to AFP this Rennais, who is started running two years ago.

"Someone Like Everyone"

Boucheix explains his popularity by the fact that he is "someone like everyone else".

"We cannot identify with Kilian Mbappé but with an amateur player who goes to the final in the Coupe de France and who is a butcher next door. I do not want to say that I am the magic of the Coupe de France, that I am the Petit-Quevilly of the trail! But there is a bit of that".

But he denies being an example to follow, he who swallows 5,000 calories a day - "if I don't eat three times what someone normally eats, I can't stand", who smoked like a firefighter until the end of his life. promise of his 30th birthday last November, who runs 30 km a day and never misses an opportunity to celebrate.

Alexandre Boucheix, aka "Green Cap", during the Ultra tour of the four massifs (Ut4M) through the Alps, near Lans-en-Vercors, in Isère, July 21, 2022 OLIVIER CHASSIGNOLE AFP / Archives

"Green Cap" is known as the white wolf in trail running.

On the Ut4M, everyone only talks about him.

But the guy from Saint-Mandé (Val-de-Marne) knows that all of this will only have a time.

"In my + work +, it lacks deep meaning, I would like to switch to a charitable world where there is a real background", he projects.

© 2022 AFP