1970: Another Swedish victory – debut of the Little Lidingöloppet

When Ingvald Midelf, 28, from IF Linden in Farsta arrived at the start at Koltorps gärde, he had almost exclusively victories behind him in this autumn's cross-country races.

In the final stretch, he was really strong and shook off the last competitors at Abborrbacken, 5 km from the finish, and won by sixteen seconds with a time of 1:45:00. Thus, he became the fourth Swede to win the Lidingöloppet. Among those who finished was 35-year-old Malte Andersson from Kristinehamn who was blind and ran with his guide Ingvar Högström. In the women's class, Siv Larsson repeated her victory and improved the course record to 1:02:31.

Premiere of the Little Lidingöloppet

New was the Little Lidingöloppet which took place the weekend before the big race with four hundred children and teenagers completing in eight classes, ages 8–15.

After Idrottsbladet had been a co-organizer for the first few years, Dagens Nyheter took over that role in 1970. It turned out to be a long and successful partnership that lasted until 1981. It was also DN that created the first logo, the three L's.

1971: The era of Finnish dominance began

Finnish runners gradually discovered the Lidingöloppet, and after the Helsinki club Viipurin Urheilijat's team victory in 1970, the following year saw the first individual win. It was the steeplechase specialist Tapio Kantanen who, after a tough fight with compatriot Hannu Partanen and Bengt Nåjde, decided the race just before the finish at Grönsta, winning by eleven seconds with a time of 1:41:45. Nåjde had his best race to date by finishing third with a time of 1:42:02, but the blue and white dominance was striking with six of the top eight from our eastern neighbor.

The very first sprint prize came to life in the form of an axe thanks to the residents of Yxvägen after 9 km. The initiator was Werner Söderman who also handled the printing and ironing (!) of the bib numbers. These were collected and reused after the race and needed to be ironed, which Werner and his wife took care of, and then provided a list of which numbers were missing.

"Delsbostintan" Eva Olsson was one of several female skiers in the women's class and proved to be completely dominant over the 16 km distance. She soloed the last 10 km and won by two minutes with a record time of 62:13. Her fellow skier Meeri Bodelid took second place while Hungarian orienteering superstar Sarolta Monspart only managed to come in fourth.

After the juniors had their own race two years earlier, the first veteran class, a 50-year-old class of 15.8 km, was introduced in 1972. 116 runners came to the start and the first winner was Roland Tjärnström from Skellefteå with a time of 1:01:00.

Despite rain throughout the night before the race, resulting in a heavy track, a number of records were broken. The new Lidingö Bridge led to reduced queues to the island.

1972: Finland and again Finland

The Finnish dominance continued, with blue and white victories in both the men's and women's categories, and in the thirty-kilometer race, 27 of the top 50 came from our eastern neighbor.

On the final stretch, it was a contest between three Finns and a Swede in the form of the rising star Göran Högberg from Brännans IF in Härnösand. He had to let go definitively at Abborrbacken, resulting in a Finnish triple victory with Reino Paukkonen winning on a track record of 1:40.51.

Hannu Partanen came in second for the second year in a row, beaten by one minute with a time three seconds slower than in 1971, thus losing one second per kilometer. Högberg finished third with a time of 1:42:10 despite suffering from a stitch between the 8th and 23rd kilometers, which then eased after he picked up a stone and pressed it hard in his hand.

For the first time, there was a Finnish victory in the women's class thanks to 23-year-old Irja Pettinen who, on her third attempt at the distance, made it all the way. The best Swedish competitor was Siv Jansson from Mälarhöjden, who finished in second place.

1972 also marked the beginning of The Swedish Classic – the collaboration between the Vasaloppet, Vätternrundan, Vansbrosimningen, and Lidingöloppet. Among the unfortunate events was a sabotage where someone tampered with the course between the 26th and 28th kilometer, which, however, was discovered in time.

1973: New victory for Paukkonen

Last year's winner Reino Paukkonen came back and won in great style with a record time of 1:38:21, having been more or less in the lead from start to finish. Thus, he became the first person to win the race twice and to break the 1:40 barrier. Göran Högberg was the best Swede, finishing in third place, one better than the year before, with a time of 1:41:24.

In the women's class, there was a Swedish victory by Inger Knutsson from Nynäshamn who, with a time of 57.19, became the first woman to finish the 15.8 kilometers under one hour. The margin of victory was 1.5 minutes over the Finn Irja Pettinen, with Pirjo Vihonen in third place and Meeri Bodelid in fourth

20-year-old Bo Christer Bertilson from Duvbo IK won the junior class's 15.8 km for the third consecutive year following a placement sequence of 10-2-1-1-1 since 1969. The victory margin was 16 seconds compared to a whole 2 minutes and 16 seconds the previous year.

The second Sunday in October was the race's position in the calendar for the first eight years, but in 1973 it was moved to the first weekend, while also making room for the Little Lidingö Race the day before.

1974: Swedish victory and record participation in the tenth race

The great interest in running had not yet spread across the country, and until 1973 the number of registrants for the 30 km race only increased by a few hundred each year. In 1966, there were 1,169 registrants and eight years later, 1,901. But something happened for the ten-year anniversary in 1974.
– The number of registrants for the thirty-kilometer race increased to 3,752, which was twice as many as the year before. It was the beginning of the jogging craze that started in the USA. After 1974, the number of registrants increased significantly, and by 1982 we reached 10,800, shares Lars-Eric Dahlstedt.

Reino Paukkonen was back to claim his third consecutive victory but had to settle for second place, defeated by Rolf Hesselvall who was just as surprised as everyone else. Injuries had ruined his summer but at the Lidingöloppet everything clicked and despite him and his club mate from Enhörna, Max Holmnäs, leading the way, Rolf was the strongest in the end and won by 46 seconds with a time of 1:42:00. Thus, he became the second person to win the race twice.

It was only ten degrees warm, wet and heavy, which did not stop Irja Pettinen from winning the women's class for the second time after leading from start to finish.

The initiator of the race, Sven Gärderud thanked everyone after ten years and was succeeded by Lars-Eric Dahlstedt, who was also a truly committed leader at IFK Lidingö.

1975: The bubble burst for Glans

The starting field for the eleventh Lidingöloppet included a number of well-known runners, several of whom were from Finland. Among others, Reino Paukkonen, the steeplechase specialist Tapio Kantanen, and Vilho Paajanen, with the first two having won the race before and thus knew the course. And indeed, there was a Finnish victory, but not by any of the aforementioned.

Instead, Jukka Toivola, 26, took an unexpected and dominant victory with a time of 1:40:10, beaming with joy as he received the laurel wreath from Marika Gullberg. The hurdle specialist Dan Glans was in second place three kilometers from the finish, but then the blisters on his feet burst and he dropped to 56th place. The reason was shoes that were too tight.

Instead, Göran Högberg achieved his best placement by finishing second with a time of 1:41:43, which was his third top-3 placement in four years. Behind him followed the Finn Håkan Spik and Paajanen, trailed by Owe Malmkvist, Bjarne Andersson, and Göran Bengtsson, all of whom crossed the finish line at 1:43. A total of 39 men finished under two hours and 722 met the medal time of 2:15.

På damsidan var Inger Knutsson tillbaka efter ett skadeår och tog sin andra seger i genom att med 58.02 slå orienteringsvärldsmästarinnan Sarolta Monspart med en minut.

1976: Grete Waitz's first victory

In 1975, the Lidingöloppet race declined American marathon star Bill Rodgers, who that same year won the Boston Marathon with the world-class time of 2:09. He demanded compensation, but IFK Lidingö had its principles. However, in 1976 there was a change, and the first to receive a travel grant was the world record holder for the 3000m, Grete Waitz from Norway.

She came, saw, and conquered in a way that truly delighted the audience. Leading from start to finish with a new record time of 54.39. Inger Knutsson was injured but was present and could only be impressed by Grete. The best Swede was Eva Gustafsson from Kil who repeated her second place from 1974.

Finnish athlete Max Holmnäs won the 30-kilometer race on his seventh attempt with a time of 1:42:54 and was also pleased that his twelve-year younger brother Per Owe had won the Little Lidingö Race's 13-year-old class the day before. The best Swedish performance in the 30-kilometer race was surprisingly by Örjan Wallin from Hammarby.

The registration fee was raised by ten kronor to 45 kr, which corresponds to 175 kr in the 2014 currency value. This resulted in a surplus of 115,000 kr for IFK Lidingö, almost twice as much as the previous year.

1977: 20-year-old junior came out of nowhere

The weather did not show its best side, and on the occasionally slippery surface, it was a 55 kg lightweight junior from Finland who mastered the 30 kilometers the best. Jouni Kortelainen became one of the most unexpected winners in the history of the Lidingöloppet after breaking away in the last 10 kilometers together with his fellow countrymen Jukka Toivola and Hannu Partanen, eventually winning by 20 seconds with a time of 1:42:18. Toivola was second and Partanen third, followed by Vilho Paajanen, making it a Finnish sweep of the top four places.

The best Swede for the second year in a row was Örjan Wallin, who finished fifth with a time of 1:44:20, which was one minute slower than the previous year. Other top Swedes included Gert Svensson from Enhörna, who came in seventh with a time of 1:44:42, and his club mate Göran Högberg who finished ninth with a time of 1:45:21.

The women's class was won in great style by Grete Waitz who improved the course record by 1.5 minutes to 53:05 despite the bad weather. She won by over seven minutes ahead of Ann Sundström from IF Start in Örebro, who was the best Swedish runner.

The growing interest in exercise was illustrated by the fact that the number of registrants for the thirty-kilometer race increased by about eight hundred for the fourth consecutive year, totaling 5594.

1978: Swedish victory after a thriller

After four Finnish victories in five years, it was finally time in 1978 for a Swede to win the Lidingöloppet. The man from Värmland, Lars Enqvist, had earlier that year set a personal record in the marathon with a time of 2:16:55, and on the hills of Lidingö, he had a day when everything fell into place.

The finish was really exciting as he was accompanied by Vilho Paajanen and Göran Högberg, whom he sprinted past seemingly with ease, even though there was only a second's difference to the Finn.

Grete Waitz won her third consecutive victory and was an incredible 9.29 minutes ahead of the runner-up. It was almost as if the audience wondered if the others had gone the wrong way.

For the first time, IFK Lidingö organized a sports fair days before the race, which took place at the Lidingö City Hall with a series of lectures on topics including sports nutrition and sports injuries. The number of registered runners for the 30-kilometer race increased for the fifth consecutive year, reaching 5,594, and the entire event generated a turnover of 750,000 SEK.

1979: Live broadcast and the first Norwegian male victory

Several TV broadcasts have been made of the Lidingöloppet over the years, but none as extensive as the 1.5-hour live broadcast at the 15-year anniversary, which resulted in fantastic marketing for running.

The TV broadcast caused the start time for the women's 15 km race to be moved to nine o'clock in the morning when it was zero degrees outside. This was because the TV crew wanted a clear path as they followed the lead in the form of Grete Waitz. Sven “Plex” Pettersson was the commentator with Anders Gärderud as co-commentator.

After a period of Finnish dominance, Öivind Dahl became the first Norwegian to win the race after a convincing performance. At Koltorps gärde, the field started three seconds too early, but a recall was never considered since it involved seven thousand runners. Dahl was immediately up front and eventually won by a narrow minute with a record time of 1:38:05. The runner-up was the experienced Jukka Toivola, and in third place was Jan Hagelbrand, who with a time of 1:39:18 recorded the best time to that point.

Four Swedes placed among the top ten. Mölndal's Mats Erixon was sixth with a time of 1:42:19, Enhörna's Hasse Nilsson ninth with 1:43:07, and Hammarby's Örjan Wallin tenth with 1:43:25.

1979 marked the premiere of the Lidingöjoggen 4 km with the start at Canadaängen where one of the participants was Anatole Bolin, born in 1893. The 86-year-old gentleman set a world record in 1918 for the 1000 m with a time of 2:29.1 and became the second runner born in the 19th century to participate in the Lidingöloppet. The first was Fritz Schreiber, Örebro AIK, born in 1894, who for several years held the age records for 73-, 74-, and 75-year-olds and notably recorded a time of 3:06 for 30 km at the age of 75.