Gjovik Women

Every meeting with Storhamar Håndball in the Mjøsa basin carries the name Mjøsderby, and for Gjøvik HK it has stayed the fixture that matters most regardless of what division either side is playing in. The rivalry has outlasted the club's own ups and downs, including relegation from the Eliteserien after the 2012–13 season, when the team finished bottom with three points and dropped into the second-tier 1. Division, where it has stayed since.

Gjøvik has built its reputation less on titles won than on players sent forward. Gro Hammerseng-Edin came through the club before going on to win Olympic gold in 2008 and being named the world's best player in 2007, a departure point the club still gets asked about more than any trophy of its own. Mari Finstad Bergum followed a similar path out, later winning the EHF European League with Nantes.

The club has also carried its European Women's Handball Cup appearances as proof that a second-tier side from a town on Lake Mjøsa can still test itself against outside opposition, even without a Norwegian championship or NM Cup to its name.

The current Gjøvik HK dates to 1997, when the handball sections of Vardal IF and an earlier Gjøvik HK, wound up in 1993, were brought together under one roof. The club counts its history from further back still, to a first founding on 18 August 1918.