Håkan Nilsson

I was born and brought up in the Swedish city of Sundsvall and today I live in a little house just outside Sundsvall with my wife Helena and our beautiful little 5 year old princess Tuva.

Since 21 years I have been working in Kubal, a nearby aluminium factory. I love my job and I do like my role as manager for the (best) shift team 64!

One of my main hobbies is training for all sorts of long distance events. So far I have run Stockholm Marathon 7 times and at the moment I’m focusing on my 10th Swedish Classic which mean I have done 4 major Swedish long distance events in 4 different disciplines (biking 350 km around Vättern, Swimming 3km in Vansbro, Trailrunning 30km on Lidingö and long distance skiing 90km in Vasaloppet) during the same year ten times! The four different disciplines have been a great help for me when trying to keep my trainingmotivation on top all year around.

I think I will benefit from all this training when I’m about to set off across the American continent and especially my 12 Vätternrundan races (350km biking). One of my main goals for 2010 before heading off to the states is bike Vatternrundan together with Ola in june.

Travelling has been a very important part of my life. Through the years I have done many motorbike trips through Europe and the last few years I have had the opportunity to go to Asia, mainly Thailand for a number of longer trips (1-3 month) together with my family. USA, the big country out west will however be a new and very interesting experience for me.

/Håkan
hakan@bike4cambodia.com

Ola Nilsson

I’m a Swedish guy surprisingly raised in Sweden

Live:
At the moment in London
Favorite book:
Haven’t got a clue
Favorite movie:
I like most stuff but doe’s not really watch much TV or film at all.
Bike experiences:
I haven’t done any long distance bike races before but had some weird bike holiday a few years ago and we ended up biking from Chamonix in the French Alps to south Sweden. The trip took 13 days and we managed to bike 1800 kilometers before arriving back home in Sweden. It was painful, this time I’m going to practice in advance. J. One of my pre goals this year is Vatternrundan in Sweden in June
Work:
I have worked every summer the last 10 years in London for Music Festival organizer Festival Republic organizing events such as Reading and Leeds festivals, the Glastonbury festival, Latitude Festival and so on. Festival Republic is a very active company when it comes to charity work abroad. I have had the opportunity to work as a volunteer on Festival Republic/Cradles projects in Thailand at two different occasions. I love Thailand but the country has so many different faces which makes it hard to get my head around it. The tourist version of Thailand that most people know is so different compared to the inland village version. I prefer the inland version as it is more modest and laid back than anything I have ever experienced before. The people in Thailand are so friendly and accommodating it’s unreal. People from the western world have much to learn from places like these.

Well I have been to Cambodia previously a couple of times and I also have friends from the country. Once in Cambodia it is apparent that the country is very poor. I went to a school during the school holiday for a visit last year and despite all the kids being on vacation they all came to the school to meet me… that would never happen in Sweden. This was of course a very touching experience and I felt that if I could do something to help I would.

/Ola
ola@bike4cambodia.com

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