Moving to Lidingö

I have decided that I at the end of the winter will move to Lidingö in Stockholm and join the club IFK Lidingö.

I have been living in Trondheim for my whole life, and think it will be good for me to live another place for some time. The spring 2009 I finished my studies on NTNU as a Master in Computer technology, and the following year I focused on WOC that was held on home ground last summer. Now I would like to have some changes in my life, both in general and as a orienteering runner.

IFK Lidingö has a great fundament for elite orienteering, with a strong organization and a good group of runners. It’s a very positive atmosphere in the club, and I feel very welcome. There are also several other Norwegians in the club. Almost all the runners are living very close to each other, which I think is important to get good quality on your daily training.

The club have a good team of competent trainers that can help me to become better. To develop as a runner I will cooperate with Anders Gärderud. Anders if former Olympic champion on 3000 m hurdles, and was coach for the Norwegian National team 2003 – 2004. I think that can help me to reach my main goal for the next season, which is to succeed in the WOC Sprint in Chambery in France.

I have never been running the big relays for an absolute top team, and to run 10mila and Jukola for Lidingö is a great challenge for me. I will do my best so that we can follow up the success from Smålandskavlen, where Lidingö won the men’s class.

I will also start working for the club in the office for Lidingöloppet, the World’s biggest cross country running competition, with more than 40.000 participants. The job is flexible and I will work maximum 50 %. That will give me the opportunity to focus on my training and competitions, at the same time as I will get a balance in my life with other interesting things to fill my time with, and of course an income for living.

To move to Stockholm was not an easy decision to take. I have been living in Trondheim my whole life, and I had several other good options for places I could have liked to move to. But now when the decision is made I feel very satisfied, and am really looking forward to move to Lidingö.

I would like to thank Wing OK for the support I have got the 14 last years. It was when I joined Wing 15 years old I got good club mates on my own age and learned how to train seriously. But I will not leave to club totally, since I will still run the Norwegian championship for Wing, and also train with the club when I’m in Trondheim.