The presence of orienteering in Singapore dates back to 1977, when the Swedish Orienteering Federation was on a promotional tour and made a stop in Singapore. They invited Mr Lam, the founder of the Singapore Orienteering Federation, to run alongside them. That was when the Swedish orienteers encouraged Mr Victor Lam to start orienteering here in Singapore, and in 1978, Singapore Orienteering Federation was born. Orienteering in Singapore started during the Army days for men who had been enlisted. Navigational skills, plotting and mapping were seen as essential skills and not so much a sport. The high life of SOF was short-lived as the rapid development of Singapore’s economy saw the development of much land space into roads and buildings. Many green spaces were lost and, coupled with the government’s focus on an information economy, the sport slowly lost its interest and was shelved in the archives.
Fast track to the year 2013, when a group of sport enthusiasts who were former members of Singapore Polytechnic’s Outdoor Adventure Club came together to discuss possible ways of rekindling the spirit of outdoor adventure in the current youth. Orienteering came up onto the discussion board, and both Alex Tan and Sebastian Wong thought that this sport would be an interesting “spice” to the already established running community in Singapore. Together, the duo rekindled Sports Orienteering with the rebuilding of the Orienteering Federation Singapore.
World Orienteering Day 2016
With total number of 61 participants we implement the first WOD event in the Polytechnic Campus. We offered three different courses to the young people, most of them in ages between 17-20. It was a great happening and we decided to move on with orienteering.
World Orienteering Day 2017
During the promotional tour, the first event was conducted in Botanic Gardens. Now Botanic Garden is granted a UENSCO Heritage site. This year in celebrating World Orienteering Day and the birth of Orienteering in Singapore almost 40 years ago, we intend to host the WOD at the Botanic Garden, sharing with people the sport and how it all started in Singapore. We hope to organize the first Map Walk using the Omap of Botanic Garden to introduce people to the wonderful sport of Orienteering.