2000: Low registration number and half a millionth runner

The 1990s saw a clear decline in the widespread interest in running compared to the 80s, and by 2000, the Lidingöloppet had only 24,523 registered participants.

It was the lowest number in fifteen years and can be compared with the record year 1993 when 31,477 were registered for all classes at the Lidingöloppet.

7126 runners completed the thirty-kilometer race, which was the level throughout the 90s, and the fastest of all was Barnabas Kosgei who defended his victory with a time of 1:35:51, ten seconds faster than before. In his wake followed five Africans, then the Finn Pasi Mattila, and with the Swedish-American Simon Gutierrez in eighth place with a time of 1:43:48.

In the women's 15 km race, it was a Norwegian victory for the fourteenth time, but it was the first in 13 years. Stine Larsen achieved this with a time of 54:47, thirteen seconds ahead of Kenyan Sally Barsosio. Marie Söderström-Lundberg finished third and was the best Swedish runner for the third consecutive year.

2001: What a debut by Mustafa Mohamed!

There had been many Swedish second-place finishes in the 30-kilometer race since the last victory in 1978, and this year was no exception. The big difference was that now only a single second was missing when 22-year-old Mustafa Mohamed from Hälle IF in Uddevalla sprinted to the finish line in his debut race!

At Grönsta after two miles, he was almost a kilometer behind the leader Francis Kirwa, but gradually caught up. One kilometer from the finish, he was in second place, just half a minute behind Kirwa, and as he entered the final stretch, he saw the Kenyan. 'Musse' closed in with every step, but the distance was too great, and Kirwa reached the goal just a few meters ahead of the Swede – 1:39:49 to 1:39:50!

– I had a bit too much respect for the distance and was barely three minutes behind the leader at twenty kilometers. But then I made up a lot of ground and with one kilometer to go, I realized he was really tired. And I almost caught up! Mustafa recounted.

In the women's class, it was a Norwegian victory for the second year in a row, this time by Gunhild Halle who, with a time of 56.08, was half a minute ahead of Lena Gavelin. In the thirty-kilometer race, Malin Ewerlöf was the fastest, taking her second victory in the distance with a time of 2.02.04. Her first victory came in 1996.

Lisa Larsen from Täby finished 37th in the Little Lidingö Race's 11-year-old class and thus became the half-millionth runner to complete any of the Lidingö Race's classes. This entitled her to free entries for life in the Lidingö Race's events. Ten years later, she was an established cross-country skier in the national team, competing for Sundbybergs IK.

2002: A new competition distance for women

After 35 years with 15 km as the main distance for women, Lidingö Tjejlopp, which started in 1993, became the new main race. At the same time, the entire Lidingöloppet was moved back a week in the calendar to the last weekend in September.

The women's race took place on Sunday, the day after the 30-kilometer race, where Kenyan Janet Ongeqra crowned a victorious Swedish summer season by breaking away from her compatriot Filomena Chepchirchir by about twenty seconds in the final kilometers to win in 35:06. Marie Söderström-Lundberg secured third place and was no more than 16 seconds behind the winner.

På tremilen fick Mustafa Mohamed revansch på Francis Kirwa efter sekundförlusten året före och slog denne med över minuten. Men ”Musses” 1.38.42 räckte ändå bara till femte plats med vilket han var 22 sekunder före Magnus Bergman. Vann gjorde Augustus Mbusya på 1.36.51 med kenyaner på de tre första platserna.

The women's race also proceeded swiftly as Lena Gavelin from BIF Jamtrennarna set a course record with a time of 1:53:13. With that, she was the 39th runner to finish.

New for the year was that runners could rent a chip for 40 SEK and thus get intermediate times along the course. It's something that has evolved over the years and in 2005 became standard in all classes.

2003: Finally a Swedish victory!

After 25 long years, it finally became a Swedish victory thanks to Mustafa Mohamed who, on his third attempt, did everything right in the final mile. After 20 km, he was in third place, 43 seconds behind the leader Hosea Kipyego, but finished strong.

– On the last mile, I received reports that I was catching up, which was naturally inspiring. With about a kilometer left, I caught up with Kipyego and overtook him immediately. It was a very pleasant feeling! says Mustafa.

With a time of 1:37:29, he was seven seconds ahead of the Kenyan and missed the best Swedish time by only five seconds.

In the women's race, last year's runner-up Filomena Chepchirchir followed up her second place with a celebrated victory in 35:32 – half a minute ahead of Marie Söderström-Lundberg.

In the evening, SVT24 broadcast a half-hour summary of the race that reflected both the amateurs and the elite, and considering Mustafa Mohamed's victory, they had chosen the best possible moment!

His Majesty visits the Lidingö Race

His Majesty Carl XVI's customary visit to one of the Stockholm municipalities was in 2003 assigned to Lidingö. The guided tour on Wednesday, September 3rd, started at AGA and Gåshaga, continued over to Elfvik and Bosön, and concluded at Grönsta gärde. There, the then Lidingö Race General Jan-Eric Österström received the party and escorted them to the starting point right next to the Runner's Monument.

2004: New victory for Mustafa

The 40th anniversary had two clear favorites for the 30-kilometer race, Mustafa Mohamed and Lena Gavelin. 'Musse' arrived at the island with great confidence after winning the previous year and had the situation under complete control all the way. The Africans were missing since they were stuck at an airport and 'Musse' never had to push himself to win. After having company with the likes of Claes Nyberg, Magnus Bergman, and Finnish Jari Matinlauri past the 20-kilometer mark, he made the decisive surge after 25 km.

It was at the crest of Abborrbacken and eventually he won by half a minute with a time of 1:40:36 ahead of the Finn, with Claes Nyberg finishing third. In the women's class, Lena Gavelin took her second victory and with a time of 1:54:32, she was just over a minute away from her own course record. The victory margin was a whole twelve minutes despite her not feeling completely well towards the end.

Unlike their male counterparts, the Kenyan women made it in time because the 10 km race took place on Sunday. There, Nancy Kiprop ensured a high pace from the start, and the only one who managed to somewhat keep up at the beginning was the Norwegian Susanne Wigene. But even though Wigene finished below the old course record, she had to concede by half a minute to Kiprop who won in 34:24.

The anniversary race was broadcast on SVT and an exhibition featuring highlights from the 40 years was displayed at the Lidingö City Hall.

2005: Which race by Wigene

After finishing second the previous year, Susanne Wigene was back and won the 10 km in great style in the summer sun. With a time of 33:27 on the hilly last mile, she demonstrated world-class performance and also took her revenge on Nancy Kiprop, who was 19 seconds behind. The course record was thus improved by 1.5 minutes and was still unbeaten in 2013. Third place went to five-time winner Annemari Sandell and the best Swedish orienteering specialist Karolina Höjsgaard finished sixth.

The 30-kilometer race was carried out in nearly 20 degrees Celsius heat, and naturally, the Africans thrived. Silas Sang was at the forefront, setting the pace practically the entire way, and after a solo run for the second half, he won by almost two minutes with a time of 1:37:39, after receiving the laurel wreath from IFK Lidingö's Charlotte Schönbeck. Mustafa Mohamed did not have a good day but still finished as the best Swede in fourth place with a time of 1:41:17.

The heat caused many to drop out, but debutant Marek Poszepczynski from Enhörna persevered even though he thought there should have been an escalator on Abborrbacken. With a time of 1:44:01, he was the second-best Swede.

The number of registered participants for the 30 km was 26,938, which is far from the record (31,477 from 1993), but IFK Lidingö still chose to extend the time between starting groups from five to ten minutes. The women's 10 km race increased for the fifth consecutive year and had 3,654 participants, which required seven starting groups.

2006: Ida's beautiful victory

Many are those who over the years have run the Lilla Lidingöloppet and later participated in one of the senior races. But until 2006, no one had managed to win both the Lilla Lidingöloppet and the main class of the seniors before Ida Nilsson from Högby on Öland became the first!

From the age of eight, she competed for twelve consecutive years from 1989 to 2000 and was never worse than sixth in the children's or junior classes, with four victories to her name.

After studying in the USA from 2001 to 2005, she was unable to participate in the Lidingöloppet, but upon her return in 2006, Ida won the mile race with a time of 34:22, which remained the best Swedish time until 2013. It was an exciting race where Ida caught up with the then-leading Australian Anna Thompson 1.5 km before the finish line and ultimately finished 17 seconds ahead. This marked the second Swedish victory in 31 years.

Herrarnas tremil vanns av Johnstone Kemboi på 1.39.18 vilket var efterlängtat efter att två gånger tidigare varit tvåa. Bäste svensk var debutanten Henrik Ahnström på tredje plats som med 1.42.33 sprang ifrån Lars Johansson och Erik Petersson som gjort det mesta av dragjobbet i svenskgruppen.

New was the running train Gothenburg-Stockholm where participants received their bib number during the journey as well as the walking race with poles and the Classic Half at 15 km.

Note: Malin Ewerlöf also won the Lilla Lidingöloppet several times but has never won the main class for seniors. However, she has been the first female runner to finish the thirty-kilometer race on three occasions.

2007: Record Participation

There were periods of intense downpour during the thirty-kilometer race, and once again there were issues with the flight for the Kenyans, which meant, among other things, that last year's winner Johnstone Kemboi never arrived. But it was still a Kenyan victory through the debutant Joseph Kimisi.

He was well-prepared and after hearing about the race in mid-June, he did a lot of hill training and long-distance runs in the terrain. Additionally, a few days before the start, he watched the video of the course that one of the sponsors had posted.

Kimisi took off on his own from the start, which meant he pulled away right at the starting gate and had a lead of up to a minute after just a few kilometers. The pack closed in halfway and was almost caught up at Abborrbacken after 25 km, but Kimisi kept an eye on the situation and sprinted to the finish in 1:40:44 – 23 seconds ahead of the runner-up Jussi Utriainen and 39 ahead of Henrik Ahnström who once again was the best Swede.

The women's class was won by another runner from Kenya, Isabellah Andersson, who moved to Sweden the year before and now won decisively with a time of 1:57:34.

In the women's elite category, for the first time an Ethiopian victory was claimed by Tigist Tufa who finished half a minute ahead of Stockholm Marathon winner Kirsten Melkevik Otterbu from Norway. The best Swedish was orienteer Lena Eliasson in sixth place.

The third running wave was significant, and this was especially evident in the registration numbers where 33,919 was a new record for the Lidingö Race – three thousand more than the previous record which was 14 years old. The difference from the year before was a whole five thousand, and it is also noted that the number of finishers, 28,883, was the highest figure to date.

2008: Victory in a new record time by Mustafa

After two years of absence, Mustafa Mohamed was back and managed to not only take his third victory after a well-paced race but also improve the best Swedish time. Going into the last ten kilometers, he was 15-20 seconds behind the leading Kenyan Japhet Kipkorir, and three kilometers from the finish, he had caught up.

– He looked tired and dropped back immediately. I thought that if I just keep my pace, I'll win, said Mustafa.

That was exactly what he did, finishing with a 13-second lead at 1:37:10. Thus, he broke Magnus Bergman's 16-year-old Swedish record by 14 seconds.

– But I wasn't aware of the record, I was just focused on trying to win, said Mustafa, who maintained an average speed of just under 3:15 per km.

Even in the women's race, there was a Swedish victory through the debutant Anna Rahm who, with a time of 1:53:20, was only seven seconds away from Lena Gavelin's six-year-old course record.

The best Swede in the main class's 10 km was Malmö AIS's Hanna Karlsson in fourth place, who with a time of 36:40 was 2.5 minutes behind the winner Pauline Njeri.

An incident occurred in starting group seven during the thirty-kilometer race when they went the wrong way after seven hundred meters and were first made aware of the mistake at the refreshment station at Ekholmsnäsbacken. They had to turn back to get onto the correct course.

2009: Malin breaks the dream barrier

Malin Ewerlöf from Lidingö made her 20th start in the Lidingöloppet, her eighth time on the 30-kilometer race, and finally succeeded in finishing under two hours. This was after having previously run under 2:01 twice. After a well-paced race, she sprinted to the finish line with a time of 1:57:46, having received the laurel wreath from IFK Lidingö's Nadja Casadei.

The men's race, as so many times before, was a Kenyan demonstration with six men together out on the last ten kilometers. Three men were left in the lead when last year's runner-up Japhet Kipkorir made a break a couple of kilometers from the finish, securing his victory by a ten-second margin at 1:39:42. Among the Swedes, last year's fifth-place Oskar Käck was well-positioned after twenty kilometers, but then hit the wall, and instead, the best Swede was Lars Johansson in fifth place.

The women's 10 km race was won by an Australian for the first time, with Benita Johnson finishing in 34.19, a minute ahead of Isabellah Andersson from Hässelby.

The year before, Lidingöloppet initiated a collaboration with a Chinese organizer who was now on site to study how to arrange the world's largest cross-country race.