One of this year's officials at O-Ringen has participated in the competition 47 times! The head coach of the national canoe team, Per-Erik Rönnestrand, would rather not miss one of the highlights of the year.

This year, however, it will be the organizer job that gets to take precedence. "Peken", as he is most often called, is the manager of one of the starting places. You'd think he's a little grumpy about not being able to run this year and being able to extend his streak of starts in the world's biggest orienteering competition, but that's not the case.
- Of course I would like to run, but now I get the opportunity to give something back!
- I've had the possibility to run for many years because others have worked, now it's my turn to make sure the race lives on. That is what everything is based on, that we help each other.

In this year's competition, "Peken" is the manager of starting place 6 and he thinks that the event has become much easier to implement in recent years.
- Now that we have O-Ringen AB that holds it all together, it will be possible for even smaller districts to cope with the arrangement.

Usually the competition has gone well during these years, but in 2011 it was close that there would be no start. A week and a half before the start, he injured one knee that swelled up and became infected and filled with fluid. A doctor cut up the swelling and drained the fluid before saying:
- Now you should not sit still, but you should go out and move!
"When I told him that I was going to be in O-Ringen, he gave me the go-ahead if I promised not to run but to go around the track. I was out for 2-2.5 hours every day but I could join in!

-For "Peken" it is not only the competition that is important but the whole. Meeting old friends when you've gone to brush your teeth is also fun. When he was growing up, O-Ringen was the only holiday trip of the summer, but he has seen almost all of Sweden that way. Now he has three boys who run orienteering and they don't want to miss O-Ringen either.
There is of course no doubt that orienteering is close to his heart. He also thinks that it fits well with the Swedish Sports Confederation's intentions with sports that everyone should be able to participate.
- Here we can have beginners and world champions in the same competition!

If you who read this recognize Per-Erik's name from other contexts, it is certainly true. After working as a waxer in the cross-country ski team for four years, he got the following jobs:
- Head coach of the national cross-country ski team 2002-2006
- Head coach of the Chinese national cross-country ski team 2006-2009
- County Sports Director in Jämtland/Härjedalen 2009-2016
- Head coach of the national canoe team for 7 years.