Peo Bengtsson

Peo (Per-Olof) Bengtsson, born 18 August 1933 near Kristianstad,[1] is a Swedish orienteer and promotor of orienteering.

Bengtsson worked as an officer, ending as a major at the Wendes Artillery Regiment (A 3).[2]

Bengtsson got a bronze medal in the Swedish Championships in night orienteering both in 1961 and 1964.[3] He was part of the Swedish team in 1964 and 1965.[4][5] Bengtsson has competed several times in the World Championships for veterans. He won a gold medal in sprint in 2015 and a gold medal in long distance in 2019.[6][7]

Bengtsson started to promote orienteering in the world in the 1960s.[8] He took contacts with Sven Thofelt in order to make orienteering an olympic sport.[9]

Bengtsson and Sivar Nordström started the first O-Ringen in 1965.[10] Bengtsson lead together with Nils-Gunnar Albinsson the arrangements for O-Ringen in 1970 in Kristianstad.[11]

Bengtsson has orienteered in 110 countries. He started arranging orienteering travels in 1961 by bringing 15 orienteers to Switzerland. During the travels he has promoted orienteering. In 1967 he organised a journey in Germany, France, Great Britain and Denmark during 16 days.[12] In 1971 he got a hundred runners to a journey across Europe during 21 days in July and August.[13]

He arranged a journey with orienteering in Denmark, Singapore, Australia and Brazil for 58 runners in December 1977 and January 1978.[14] In 1980 there was an orienteering in Venice. Kjell Lauri, Jörgen Mårtensson and Arja Hannus were among the runners on that trip.[15] Bengtsson went with a group of Swedish runners to the open competitions at the World Championships in Victoria, Australia in 1985.[16]

The main travel is called Höst Öst, where the name indicates a travel to the East in autumn. One of the frequent competitions was the so called 7 November pokal somewhere around Budapest.[17] In 2017 the 50th HöstÖst was arranged.[18] In 2020 the 53rd Höst Öst was organised, however only in Sweden due to the Covid-19 pandemic, from Gothenburg to Västervik passing by Idre, with 11 competitions and 37 participants. Some of terrains are judged by Mats Troeng to be the best ones in Sweden.[3]

Sources

  1. ^ "Presentation av Per-Olof Bengtsson". WWOP. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  2. ^ "Vpl på specialtjänst, betalda funktionärer". Arbetet. 2: 4. 1970-07-08.
  3. ^ a b Andersson, Karl-Erik (Nov 13, 2020). "53:e Höst-Öst-resan tävlade i Skattungbyn": 30. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ "Åke Ekstrand bäst i nattorientering". Sölvesborgstidningen. 1: 13. 1964-09-25. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  5. ^ "Pontus Carlson vann 3-milen - favorit till SM-premiären". Göteborgsposten. 1: 26. 1965-05-02. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  6. ^ Nilsson, Jonny (2015-08-18). "VM-guld för veteran från Skåneslätten". Skånska Dagbladet. 2: 11. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  7. ^ "DET LOKALA SPORTÅRET 2019 - SÅ MINNS BLADETSPORTEN ÅRET SOM HAR GÅTT". Kristianstadsbladet: 18–19. Dec 31, 2019.
  8. ^ "Svensk orientering behöver ny Frilén". Arbetet. 2: 3. 1977-08-01.
  9. ^ "Thofelt imponerad av 5-dagars: Plan finns för orientering i OS". Arbetet: 15. 11 July 1970.
  10. ^ Gustafson, Christer (2019-06-10). "O-ringen - en gigantisk idrottsfest". Östgöta Correspondenten. 3: 45. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  11. ^ "Grönt för 7000 i snapphaneskogen". Arbetet: 14. 7 July 1970.
  12. ^ "Orientering genom sex länder - ROK:are 6:a efter första etappen". Sölvesborgsposten. 1: 11. 1967-07-05. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  13. ^ Lorenzson, Lennart (1971-06-25). "Kal å Ada inleder intensiv luffartid". Göteborgsposten. 1: 20. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  14. ^ "54 orienterare tävlar jorden runt". Arbetet: 21. 20 Dec 1977. Retrieved 26 April 2020.
  15. ^ Lorenzson, Lennart (1980-11-02). "OL i Venedig - Tävling och PR". Göteborgs-Posten. 2: 16. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  16. ^ Lorenzson, Lennart (1985-08-26). "Svenskar hjälper tjecker". Göteborgs-Posten. 2: 12.
  17. ^ Bengtsson, Anders (2017-11-18). "Spännande huvudperson". Norra Skåne. 2: 10. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  18. ^ Öström, Olov (2017-07-27). "Peo 82, en missionär". Nya Wermlandstidningen. 2: 14. Retrieved 31 May 2020.