Lidingö, live.

522 metres of climbing, and none of it in one go

A cross-country race on an island just outside Stockholm, run on the last weekend of September since 1965.

Lidingöloppet is the organiser’s own “world’s largest cross-country race”, and the 2026 weekend backed the claim with 35,000 runners and a sold-out 30 km. The main distances are run on the Saturday: the 30 km and the 15 km start on Koltorps gärde, the 10 km for juniors and veterans starts on Grönsta gärde, and every one of them finishes on Grönsta gärde. The 30 km has been part of En Svensk Klassiker since the series began in 1971, and finishers get a bronze medal with a new Carl Milles motif every year.

The organiser publishes 522 metres of ascent on the 30 km and 250 on the 15 km, spread across flat meadows, gravel roads, sloping paths and steep climbs. There is no single mountain on Lidingö; the climbing comes in short, repeated pieces, and the last stretch from Grönsta towards the finish is the part all three distances share.

That shape is what makes a race like this hard to follow from the finish area. The 30 km runs through forest for long stretches with drink stations at Ekholmsnäs, Hustegaholm, Fågelöudde, Grönsta, Uddvägen and Tyktorp, and a runner can be anywhere between two of them. With Livebib, the runner shares a link to their own broadcast; family open it in a browser, with no app or account, and see the position on the course line, the distance covered and a finish estimate that updates. Under the pines, where the phone loses signal, the position is carried forward along the course and marked as estimated, never shown as measured.