An ode to the visionaries who brought great sports to where they didn’t really belong.
World Ice Golf Championship
Sports should never be hindered by geographical location but some places are more naturally suited to certain sports than others. Skiing is not that big in sub-Saharan Africa because of the distinct lack of snow, which can throw a somewhat sizeable spanner in the works.
However, there are those who dare to dream – visionaries who won’t let climate or landscapes become an obstacle to their sporting desires. We salute those innovators who brought new sports to countries they really had no place to be.
Snowboarding in Egypt
There’s no snow in Egypt but that didn’t stop snowboarding fanatics from adapting their beloved winter sport to the eternal sunshine of the sand dunes. Thus “sandsurfing” was born. Take a holiday to Egypt and you can have all the fun of snowboarding on the sand, while getting a suntan at the same time.
Beach Volleyball in Switzerland
Landlocked Switzerland may be the home of cheese with holes in it, interesting timepieces and triangular chocolate, but one thing the country lacks is beaches. Still, a lack of sandy coastline didn’t stop these Europeans from taking part in beach volleyball, constructing a number of purpose-built sand courts for the summer season.
Golf in Greenland
Forget 300-yard drives on to the green, in Greenland they like to drive on to the white, at the annual World Ice Golf Championships. The ice is a hard and unforgiving mistress, one even Tiger Woods wouldn’t relish, with unpredictable ground making for tough play.
Skiing in Dubai
In a city which thrives in fantastical designs and ideas, it perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise that skiing on man-made snow in the middle of the Arabian Desert is a reality for residents of Dubai. Ski Dubai is a monstrous 22,500-square metre indoor ski resort (exterior pictured) in the middle of one of the largest shopping malls in the world.
Bungee Jumping in Holland
Bungee jumping – or Glorified Rubber Band Stretching as it is sometimes known – requires two things: a large piece of elasticised rope, and a great height. In a country which is as notoriously flat as Holland, you have to applaud the Dutch for their tenacity. So keen were they to have bungee jumping in Holland that the Dutch went to the extreme lengths of placing a crane on top of a large building at the end of a pier in Scheveningen (pictured). The phrase “Dutch courage” comes to mind.
Sources:
www.greenland-guide.gl
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ski_Dubai
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_hockey
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