1980: Double Norwegian victories

Just like the previous year, it was the Norwegians at the top in both the men's and women's classes, and both set new record times. 30-year-old Knut Kvalheim had his banking career behind him and claimed to be an amateur, which was hardly true.

He left the rest behind halfway at Fågelöudde and solo ran to a brilliant 1:37:42, thereby beating his compatriot Öivind Dahl's record from the previous year by 23 seconds. It was also a Norwegian who took third place through Inge Simonsen, while Tommy Persson was the best Swede in third place with 1:39:13, five seconds under Jan Hagelbrand's previous best Swedish time.

In the women's race, Grete Waitz according to her coach and husband Jack, ran one of her best races of her career when she beat her own record by almost a minute with a time of 51:03 on the 15.2 km course.

The number of registered participants for the 30-kilometer race was 8,652, which led to the use of starting groups for the first time. Two thousand runners were released in 5-minute intervals, resulting in less stress at the starting area and allowing runners to spread out better along the course.

1981: British weather and British victory

The weather during the 1981 race was among the worst in the history of the event, and in the mud at Grönsta gärde several runners lost a shoe as they zigzagged towards the elusive finish line. The Briton John Graham, accustomed to bad weather, immediately set a pace that only the Norwegian Stig Roar Husby dared to follow. He kept up until the final kilometer when Graham gained a small gap and won by seven seconds with a time of 1:40:56.

21-year-old Hans Segerfeldt won the junior class the previous year and now finished as the best Swede in fourth place with a time of 1:41:30. The eternally young Bjarne Andersson from Mora, at 41 years old, came in fourteenth at 1:44:50, only 1:20 slower than when he finished third fourteen years earlier.

Among the skiers, one notes Örjan Blomquist, IFK Lidingö, in 16th place, Hans Persson, Åsarna IK (who three years later won the Vasaloppet), in 21st place, and his clubmate and Olympic gold medalist Thomas Wassberg in 89th.

Grete Waitz won the women's class for the sixth consecutive year and her fellow countrywoman Ingrid Kristiansen was second, nearly two minutes behind. The best Swedish participant was Karoline Nemetz from Råby-Rekarne who, despite the weather, recorded the best Swedish time as third at 56.55.

1982: Record year and Norway, Norway, Norway

For the ninth consecutive year, a record was set in the number of finishers in the thirty-kilometer race as 10,810 runners crossed the finish line at Grönsta gärde. But no one could have imagined that it would take 29 years before that number was surpassed.

The Norwegian dominance continued, and in the women's race, Grete Waitz recorded another victory, just like the year before with Ingrid Kristiansen in second place. In the men's 30 km, Mats Erixon looked like a winner for a while, but on the last tough 10 km, the 23-year-old Norwegian Jarl Gaute Aase was the strongest and won with a time of 1:38:23, with Mats in fourth place at 1:40:01.

The number of finishers in the 30 km race increased for the ninth consecutive year, and after being recorded in the Guinness Book of Records in 1981, new record figures were set in 1982 with 11,763 starters and 10,810 finishers. But no one could have imagined that it would take 29 years before those numbers were surpassed in the Lidingöloppet.

1983: “The victory is ours”

Three of the four previous years' winners of the thirty-kilometer race were present, and they were all Norwegians. Öivind Dahl competed for the victory with the Briton Bob Treadwell and managed to decide the race in the downhill sprint during the last five hundred meters. With a time of 1:39:34, he won by seven seconds and became the third person to win the race twice. The Danes Svend-Erik Kristensen and John Skovbjerg finished third and fourth, followed by Matts Jansson from Enhörna, who was the best Swede with a time of 1:41:00.

Grete Waitz was recognized the day before the race when she turned 30 years old. She celebrated with a clear victory the following day despite slowing down a bit at the end due to a slightly sore Achilles tendon. Her brother Jan was also pleased as he recorded 1:48:25 on the thirty-mile, which was good enough for 70th place.

It was the calmest traffic year thus far on the island despite the population nearly doubling on race day – from 37,000 to 80,000. The total winnings for IFK Lidingö amounted to one million kronor, which can be compared to 10,000 kr in 1965.

1984: Worst weather in the history of the race

During September, over 100 mm of rain fell which resulted in particularly grassy areas becoming very wet and the mud on the finish field was a decimeter thick. This was despite the fire brigade's efforts at pumping out water from a dug pit to the large drainage ditch.

When Knut Kvalheim won in 1980, he claimed he was an amateur, and it was not a label he wanted to change when he repeated the triumph in the muddy conditions four years later. At 34 years old, he was stronger than ever and won with a 1.5 minute lead in 1:38:43 ahead of Mats Erixon. A performance that must be valued higher than Kvalheim's track record of 1:37:51 from 1980, which was achieved in considerably better conditions.

In the women's class, the 20th Lidingöloppet was completely undramatic thanks to Grete Waitz, even though the victory margin has never been smaller than the 1.21 it now was to Ingrid Kristiansen.

1985: Erixon just 19 seconds away from victory

The weather contrast to the previous year's race was almost complete with sunshine and solid ground, and this was also reflected in the top field with 29 men under 1:45 and 320 under two hours.

At Grönstabacken, after two miles, Jarl Gaute Aase and Mats Erixon had caught up with the until then leading Brit Kevin Foster, who was defeated by the hill. Mats believed in victory on the final mile, but the Norwegian was stronger and won by 19 seconds with a time of 1:38:25. Thus, it was a Norwegian victory for the sixth time in seven years, and Aase became the third Norwegian in a row to win the race for the second time. Mats Erixon took second place for the second consecutive year, and his time of 1:38:44 was a new Swedish record.

Grete Waitz won her tenth consecutive victory in the 15 km and could also rejoice that her husband and coach Jack set a personal record in the 30 km with 1:53:19.

After the rain-soaked race in 1984, when the information on the address labels on the clothing bags disappeared in the wet, all participants that year received a stiff plastic card with their start number, name, and address. The plastic card was attached to the bag with the outer clothes using a leather strap, which worked much better.

1986: The African dominance begins

Tanzanian Suleiman Nyambui became the 22nd man in the Lidingöloppet the year before when he ran in spiked shoes and came back in 1986 to become the first African to win the race. With sunny weather and ten degrees, on a dry and runner-friendly course, record times were set across the board for the thirty-kilometer race. With 39 men finishing under 1:45 and a total of 405 runners under two hours, the previous year's record for overall participation was broken.

Nyambui, who was the Olympic silver medalist in the 5000 m at the Moscow Olympics in 1980, lived and trained in Lidingö all summer and was well-prepared when the time came. After a calm first 10 km, he caught up with the lead pack in the second and broke away from the last remaining competitor one kilometer from the finish. 1:36:38 was a new course record and even the runner-up Allan Zachariasen from Denmark and third-place finisher Gelindo Bordin (bronze medalist in the marathon at the European Championships) finished under the old top mark. The best Swede was Pär Wallin from Spårvägen, who with a time of 1:38:06 ensured that the 'Swedish record' was broken for the second consecutive year.

After Finnish dominance in the 1970s and Norwegian in the 1980s, from 1986 it became largely about Africa and especially Kenya in the men's 30-kilometer race.

Grete Waitz had planned to run the thirty-kilometer race, which for the first time was an official competition class, but an injury meant she had lost training time and therefore once again chose the 15 km. It ended, of course, with a victory with another Grete in second place, compatriot Kirkeberg. Eva Ernström was the best Swede in third place, where her time of 55:16 was the best Swedish time to that point. The thirty-kilometer winner was Meeri Bodelid from Högbo with a time of 2:08:29.

1987: Wästlund and Hellstadius caused an upset

After eleven consecutive victories in the 15 km, there was no twelfth for Grete Waitz since she had been injured two months earlier. However, she was still present in the role of team leader for a group of Norwegian youths in the Lilla Lidingöloppet and could for the first time follow the race from the sidelines.

But it was a Norwegian victory anyway through the fresh world champion in the 10,000 m, Ingrid Kristiansen, who after four 2nd-places finally got to win at Lidingö. 51:58 was less than a minute from Grete's track record but the big sensation was Malin Wästlund, a 23-year-old orienteer from IF Spexarna in Stockholm, who finished second with a time of 53:07. With that, she beat the previous best Swedish time by over two minutes.

For the first time in ten years, the 30 km race had a Finnish winner: the steeplechaser Tommy Ekblom, who in ideal weather with sun and 14 degrees broke away by almost a minute. After running solo, he reached the finish in 1:38:47, half a minute ahead of the Briton Kevin Foster. Just as in the women’s race, an orienteer was the best Swede, and Mats Hellstadius’s third place in 1:38:56 was an even greater surprise than Malin Wästlund’s. Hellstadius’s final ten kilometers were extraordinary, as he passed Mats Erixon, who had been on military reserve training the week before.

1988: New victory for Ekblom

The Norwegian Jarl Gaute Aase was present to try to become the first person to win the race three times and was also in contention for the victory for a long time. In the last mile, he was together with the Finn Tommy Ekblom, but in a downhill section, the Finn pulled ahead and ultimately won with almost a half-minute lead in 1:37:26.

Thus, Ekblom became the sixth person to win the race twice and the second to win two years in a row. In the biting wind and the intermittent drizzling rain, Mats Erixon started the last ten kilometers in third place but had to yield to the Tanzanian Nada Sahktai, finishing fourth and as the best Swede with a time of 1:38:41 – a personal best at the Lidingöloppet by three seconds.

Grete Waitz came back after the injury the year before and in what turned out to be her last start in the Lidingöloppet. The winning time of 54:39 was exactly the same as when she won for the first time twelve years earlier. The best Swedish was Midde Hamrin from Mölndal, who came in second with a time of 54:48.

After the discontinuation of the Lidingöjoggen, the year before marked the premiere of the Lidingö Relay which resulted in a positive outcome with 451 completing teams of four runners each where the distances were 10+4+4+4 km.

In total, there were 29,250 registrations, which was an increase of three thousand compared to the previous year and thus a new record. Among these, 6,155 participants in the Lilla Lidingöloppet, which is a record that still stood in 2013.

1989: Record-breaking 25th anniversary

The Lidingöloppet celebrated its 25th anniversary by for the first time exceeding 30,000 registered runners across all categories. A running seminar and a tipspromenad (a type of quiz walk) were organized from Lidingövallen to Bosön, where the anniversary took place, and among the entertainers were Totte Wallin and Susanne Alfvengren.

One who spent a lot of time at Bosön during the year was the Kenyan world champion in marathon, Douglas Wakiihuri, who lived there from April to October and therefore knew the Lidingö terrain very well. At that time, he was considered the world's foremost marathon runner and thus the greatest male star to have visited the race.

Wakiihuri was also in excellent shape when it was time to start, and at Grönsta after 20 km, he only had the company of Håkan Börjesson from Hagen. But two kilometers later, he pushed hard and solo ran into the new course record of 1:36:10. Börjesson did a really good race and took second place with a time of 1:38:10, which was a good half minute before Mats Erixon.

In the women's 15 km race, for the first time there was a British victory through Angela Tooby who, with a time of 54:49, was 25 seconds ahead of Malin Wästlund. One of the many participation records was set in the 15 km event with 3624 finishers.