A new start for orienteering in Nepal

Since 2014, Nepal has been a provisional member of the IOF. However, partially due to the disastrous earthquake that affected the country in 2015, there has been very little actual activity going on.

Enter Radheshyam Dahal, Secretary General of the rejuvinated Nepal Orienteering Federation (NOF). He had heard about orienteering during a trip to Norway and thought that it would be a good sport to introduce properly in Nepal. During the past 6 months he worked hard to put together a team to give Nepalese Orienteering a fresh start in cooperation with the Sports Authority of Nepal. The IOF Council officially approved a change of affiliation in connection with the January 2019 Council meeting.

On March 31st and April 1st, IOF Secretary General/CEO Tom Hollowell visited Kathmandu at the invitation of the Nepal Orienteering Federation. During the visit an introduction seminar was held over 2 half-day sessions. NOF had been able to encourage  about 30 enthusiastic participants including Principals and Teachers from several schools around Kathmandu, representatives from the Nepalese military, tourism operators and a number of Olympic middle and long distance runners. In addition to classroom sessions the participants took part in 2 practical sessions.

During the 2 days visits were also made to potential venues including several school campuses, urban parks and national park areas. A number of good locations were identified and the next important step for development is the making of maps. Focus will be on starting with school campus maps as the Principals and Teachers who attended the seminar were very interested in establishing orienteering in their schools Physical Education curriculum. The target is to have several activities on World Orienteering Day in May.

A visit to the Vice President of the Sports Authority of Nepal was also on the program and he was very supportive of the development of orienteering in Nepal, giving ideas of schools and areas, and noted that the development would be watched closely.

The Nepal Orienteering Federation welcomes the contribution of orienteering volunteers to the development of the sport in Nepal. NOF can be reached via the links on the Eventor page.