In our last issue, we ran a story about Ramon Barquin becoming the first to play squash in Antarctica. Seems we may have been a bit premature in crowning Mr. Barquin as it appears two other players accomplished this unusual feat over 25 years ago. The following is an email we received from Denis Bourke:
Bob Eather and I wish to congratulate Mr. Barquin on possibly being the first to play squash on all seven continents. However, we do wish to dispute his claim to be the first to play squash in Antarctica. In 1981, while at the South Pole Station, Bob and I were able to clear out an exercise room that reasonably approximated the dimensions of an American squash court. We had brought our racquets and several squash balls. We proceeded to play a series of three matches with myself being the eventual victor, thereby declaring myself the 1981-and possibly first-Antarctic Continental Champion. A picture of the award ceremony at the geographic South Pole appeared with a brief article in an issue of the 1981 Squash News.
Bob and I returned to the South Pole in 1983 and repeated our championship series. Unfortunately, in this series of matches, Bob was the victor and declared 1983 Antarctic Continental Champion.
While we don’t expect the PSA or WISPA to initiate a proper world class tournament in the region, one never knows. Anyone else out there care to chime in on playing in Antarctica? And our apologies for the minimalist clothing. Seems the frigid temps hampered their senses somewhat.