Idrettslaget Runar is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

sports club from Haukerød in

Sandefjord Sandefjord () is a city and the most populous municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The municipality of Sandefjord was established on 1 January 1838. The municipality of Sandar was merged into Sandefjord on 1 January 1969. On 1 ...

. It has sections for

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, and

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

. It was established on January 7, 1949.

Athletics

Its athletics section is known for its prominent long-distance runners. Olympic competitors Gunhild Halle Haugen and

Marius Bakken Marius Bakken (born March 27, 1978 in Sandefjord) is a Norwegian runner who specializes in the 5000 metres, having run distances from 800 to 10,000 metres in his early career. He represents IL Runar. He finished ninth at the 2001 World Champion ...

represented IL Runar, and so did

Susanne Wigene Susanne Wigene (born 12 February 1978 in Haugesund) is a Norwegian middle and long distance runner who specializes in the 5000 and 10,000 metres. She also competes over the 1500, 3000 and 3000 m steeplechase distances. She won the silver meda ...

for a limited period. Local rivals in both handball and athletics are

Sandefjord TIF Sandefjord Turn- og Idrettsforening is a sports club in Sandefjord, Norway. The club has activities in basketball, team handball, handball, orienteering, sport of athletics, athletics, skiing, volleyball, gymnastics and children's allsports. Its ...

Handball

The men's handball team currently plays in the first league of Norwegian handball, and was relegated from the first league in 2006–07 season, but they soon returned to the first league again. Runar won the highest league in the seasons 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96 and 1999–00. They also won the

Limburgse Handbal Dagen The Limburgse Handbal Dagen / Limbourg Handball Days is a handball tournament organized since 1988 in Limburg (Netherlands), especially in the cities of Sittard, Geleen and Beek. The tournament lasts for 3 days with teams from Europe, Africa and ...

in 1998, where they defeated Sporting Toulouse ’31 with 29-28 in the final.

Football

The men's football team currently plays in the 4. divisjon, the fifth tier of the

Norwegian football league system The Norwegian football league system, or pyramid, is a series of League system, interconnected leagues for club Association football, football in Norway. 2017 system in men's football , the current national league system administered by the Norwegi ...

. They have never played in the top tier, but had its last stint in the 1. divisjon (second tier) in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, with players like Morten Fevang who later became a significant player in the top division and captain of

Odd Grenland Odd means unpaired, occasional, strange or unusual, or a person who is viewed as eccentric. Odd may also refer to: Acronym * ODD (Text Encoding Initiative) ("One Document Does it all"), an abstracted literate-programming format for describing X ...

. In late 1998, Runar formed the elite football team

Sandefjord Fotball Sandefjord Fotball, commonly known simply as Sandefjord, is a Norwegian professional football club, founded on 10 September 1998. The club currently competes in Eliteserien, the top tier of the Norwegian football league system. Their home groun ...

with local rivals

Sandefjord BK Sandefjord Ballklubb is a Norwegian football club from Sandefjord, currently playing in Norwegian Fourth Division, the fifth tier in the Norwegian football league system. The club was founded on 27 February 1917. Their home matches are played at ...

, in an attempt to take Sandefjord back to the top level of football in Norway.History (Sandefjord Fotball official site)
The plan succeeded, as Sandefjord Fotball, as of the 2019 season, have been playing in the top flight in 7 out of the last 14 seasons.

Recent men's football seasons

References

External links

Official site
Sandefjord Norwegian handball clubs Football clubs in Norway Athletics clubs in Norway Sport in Vestfold og Telemark Multi-sport clubs in Norway {{norway-footyclub-stub