The Cap Nord Organization Team
Philippe Boucher
Rally founder and organizer
Already a radio presenter at the age of 14, he later worked as a journalist for the DAUPHINE LIBERE regional newspaper. He climbed Mont Blanc when he was 15 and again when he was 17, when he made a video documentary of this wonderful experience. As soon as he was 18, he set off alone to Peru to produce a documentary about the country’s Amazonian Indians. A year later, he launched the idea of a photo rally from Paris to North Cape. The first edition took place two years later. At the age of 21 he became a producer-presenter of short programmes for the television channel FRANCE 3 Rhône-Alpes-Auvergne. Since then, Philippe has combined his experience organising rallies with a career as a documentary filmmaker and producer (films broadcast in France, by France Télévision, in Scandinavia, of course, by NRK and YLE 1, and in many other countries). At other moments in his career, he has worked as a head steadicam operator for TV programmes such as TF1 News and Ushuaïa Nature and as a columnist for the France Info radio station. He has also written articles for National Geographic and contributed to a series of magazines dedicated to France’s different regions. In addition, he has done voluntary work for Handicap International. His love of travel has taken him to more than 50 different countries. His professional website can be found at Planet Odyssey. Since 1999 he has been the Federation of Finnish Industries’ representative in France (Finnfacts). He is currently putting together the next PARIS-NORTH CAPE PHOTO RALLY and the next Photo Trek Phototrek.fr, another concept he created.
Organization
This allows us to manage the logistics and ensure everything runs smoothly. Having several vehicles at our disposal ensures we have the flexibility to set up checkpoints and carry out all the other day-to-day tasks the Rally requires (logistics, website, juries, campgrounds/accommodation, road book, press conferences, classification, press releases, media relations, ferries, reports, photos, videos, etc.).
Philippe Boucher supervises the team and is available 24/7 to help the participants.
Régis BOREL
computing
Régis first started helping with organising the PNC Rally during an internship when he was 19 years old. He is now a logistics manager for a large corporation but he still helps us with the computing side of the Rally, as efficient and as pleasant to work with as ever.
Emmanuelle PRAPROTNIK
Desktop publishing
A few years after taking part in the PNC Rally, Emmanuelle joined the organising team to help out with logistics. She now lives in the Yukon, in Canada, not far from Alaska, but continues to help out with desktop publishing. Whatever time it is in the Yukon, she is always ready to design pamphlets, adverts (for National Geographic) or documents for the participants.
Valérie BOUCHER
Participants manager
Valérie was the participants manager for the first PNC Rally, in 1988. She then spent several months in 1989 and 1990 helping prepare and run the next editions of the Rally, including the prize-giving ceremony a month after the Rally had finished. She came back to the Rally team in 2010 and has helped with the organisation ever since. An exceptional cook with a heart of gold, she prepares most of the organised meals for the participants. She also contributes to the rally journal.
Roland SAPIN
video editor
Roland is an extremely dedicated video editor who will work non-stop on a project until it is finished (his record is 40 hours without sleep). Not only is he an expert in using editing software, he is capable of finding solutions to even the most difficult technical problems.
Christophe BONEL
Qualified doctor – compere
Christophe, known as “Doc”, is an amazingly talented entertainer. He is extremely quick witted and has a wonderful ability to get any group laughing. Of course, that doesn’t stop him taking his role in the Rally seriously.
Nathalie BONEL
Qualified doctor – classification
Nathalie worked on the classification for last year’s Rally. Despite the large number of points awarded by the members of the different photo juries, she never got flustered. Her pleasant nature was also a great attribute at the checkpoints she ran with her adorable son, Julien.
Olivier Ha
Doctor
Olivier is a doctor but a lot more! His capacities as traveler and computer scientist are essentials for our entire organization.
Johan BOUCHER
live website manager
Johan has spoken fluent English since he was 15 and has run the live side of the website since he was 17. He is a true computer geek who is capable of efficiently and calmly resolving any problem.
Emilie BOUCHER
Rally diary
Emilie is a born artist who can produce beautiful works in any medium, from paint to pastels to ink. She won a prize for one of her travel diaries when she was just 14 and is preparing a travel diary for the next PNC.
Coraline BOUCHER
Photos for the live website
Coraline instinctively knows how to frame an image. As soon as she got her first reflex, when she was 11, she produced fabulous photos, some of which were good enough to enter a regional photography competition. She takes photos of life during the Rally and for the live website.
Suzanne HAMEL
Official documents
Suzanne lives in Martinique. Although she is on the other side of the ocean, she manages to produce all the documents we need, even if it means working into the middle of the night. She is both very efficient and a pleasure to work with.
Jean-Baptiste JEANY
PNC logos and products
JB is incredibly creative. Every time we ask him to produce a logo, a poster, a picture, he produces something that is even more beautiful than we had dared asked for!
Anne-Sophie MAUDUIT
Qualified doctor – Rally diary
“Cannellounette’s” gentle nature is greatly appreciated by all the participants, which means they have no hesitation in sharing with her their choicest anecdotes for inclusion in the Rally diary.
Paul HENDERSON
English translation
Paul is a translator who loves words. Every time we ask him to work on an important text, his translation is longer than the original French (usually it is the other way round) because he wants to make sure it is both clear and agreeable to read.
Patrick LEGUENNEC
Photographer
Patou won the Rally in 1995 and has since become our official photographer. Just as importantly, he loves sharing his expertise with the participants, patiently providing them with practical tips for improving their photos.
Sandrine MERCIER
Video editor
Sandrine does the video editing in Paris, always taking the same pleasure in the work despite sometimes having to deal with innumerable hours of footage.
