This episode spotlights Sofia Quensel, a Malmö-based runner whose determination and positivity in the face of a breast cancer diagnosis on New Year’s Day 2024 are a true inspiration. We talk about her love for running, the challenges of the past year, how she coped with breast cancer through running, and the incredible community that lifted her up.

Emilia Hedman, queen of running loops. While having been a solid runner for years, Emilia saw a significant improvement in her running when she got a coach and started to run in a more structured way. Along the way, she discovered long distance running on tracks and shorter loops and started to hit new milestones and personal bests.

Listen to this episode to hear about Emilia´s running journey, her game changing experience training with a coach, her favorite loop races, and how she mentally and physically tackles these challenges.

Niclas Gällentoft, a local ultra-running hero with relentless determination. He also channels his passion for the sport into supporting others on their own journeys, and it was a pleasure to dive deeper and get to know Niclas a little bit better and learn about what drives him. In this episode, we explore Niclas' running story, his love for the Canary Islands, and his role as team manager for the upcoming Backyard Ultra World Championship this weekend.

Interview in Swedish but as usual I do my intro in English ☺️

Check out the film from Transgrancanaria 360 from 2021, by Niclas and Jacob Zocherman: https://youtu.be/0cVPeymKZYg?si=lUO-8Y6KaY_OKXc9

Meet Lisa, the good-at-every-distance-and-surface runner but with her heart and soul in ultrarunning. She’s no stranger to race podiums and she strength trains on the regular to stay free of injury. Lisa’s journey is not without hurdles, and in this episode she tells about her struggles with miscarriage, how she stayed fit during pregnancy, and her training leading up to her racing comeback post-partum.

Meet Olaf, one of the driving forces behind Mossarun, a unique trail race in the forests of Småland with distances ranging from 17km to a 24-hour ultra. With just three weeks until the race, Olaf shares what makes this event special, from its challenging 17km loop to the tight-knit trail running community it fosters. We'll also hear about the other events he organizes and the charities he supports through his nonprofit the Lost Goats, founded together with his two close friends Lluc Hevia and Niklas Lundgren.

Resources

Race website: https://www.mossarun.com/

This year´s charity: https://www.yongeyfoundation.org/impact/social-engagement/himalayan-environment-and-life-protection

Joseph, aka Josefsson. He´s run every day for over a year and smashed numerous personal records in the process. He´s run 90% of Malmös streets and soon closing in on the rest of the city. Taking Malmö literally by stride, Joseph is a ray of sunshine and positivity in our local running community. In this episode, you´ll hear about Joseph´s great running achievements and what keeps him going, what brought him to Sweden, and his experiences in learning the Swedish language. This episode is in English.