Wife Carrying - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Wife carrying is a sport in which male competitors race while each carrying a female teammate. The objective is for the male to carry the female through a special obstacle track in the fastest time. The sport was first introduced at Sonkajärvi

Sonkajärvi

Sonkajärvi is a municipality of Finland.It is located in the province of Eastern Finland and is part of the Northern Savonia region. The municipality has a population of and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is ....

, Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

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Several types of carry may be practised: piggyback, fireman's carry (over the shoulder), or Estonia

Estonia

Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...

n-style (the wife hangs upside-down with her legs around the husband's shoulders, holding onto his waist).

Major wife-carrying competitions are held in Sonkajärvi

Sonkajärvi

, Finland (where the prize depends on the wife's weight in beer

Beer

Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...

); Monona, Wisconsin

Monona, Wisconsin

Monona is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 8,046 as of 2007. It is completely surrounded by Madison and is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Monona is located at ....

; Minocqua, Wisconsin

Minocqua, Wisconsin

Minocqua is a town in north-western Oneida County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 4,385 at the 2010 census. The census-designated place of Minocqua is located in the town. The unincorporated community of Rantz is also located in the town. Minocqua is commonly referred to as "The...

; and Marquette, Michigan

Marquette, Michigan

Marquette is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Marquette County. The population was 21,355 at the 2010 census, making it the most populated city of the Upper Peninsula. Marquette is a major port on Lake Superior, primarily for shipping iron ore and is the home of Northern...

.

The North American Wife Carrying Championships take place every year on Columbus Day

Columbus Day

Many countries in the New World and elsewhere celebrate the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas, which occurred on October 12, 1492, as an official holiday...

Weekend in October at Sunday River Ski Resort in Newry

Newry, Maine

Newry is a town in Oxford County, Maine, United States. The population was 344 at the 2000 census. Newry is the home of Sunday River Ski Resort and has a proportionately large seasonal population.-History:...

, Maine

Maine

Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

History

There are many thoughts to how this sport first originated in Finland. Tales have been passed down from one person to another about a man named Herkko Rosvo-Ronkainen. This man was considered a robber in the late 1800s, lived in a forest, and ran around with his gang of thieves causing harm to the villages. From what has been found, there are three ideas to why/how this sport was invented. First, Rosvo-Ronkainen and his thieves were accused of stealing food and women from villages in the area he lived in; then carried these women on their backs as they ran away, (hence the “wife” or women carrying). For the second idea, it has been said that young men would go to villages near their own, steal other men’s wives, and then have the woman become their own wife. These wives were also carried on the backs of the young men; this was referred to as “the practice of wife stealing." Lastly, there was the idea that Rosvo-Ronkainen trained his thieves to be “faster and stronger” by carrying big, heavy sacks on their backs, which could have eventually evolved to a sport because of the hard labor (endurance), and muscle strengthening; which most sports ensure. Even though this sport has been considered by some as a joke, competitors take it very seriously, just like any other sport. Wife carrying is now practiced in the United States of America, Hong Kong, and other parts of the world besides Finland, and has a category in the Guinness Book of Records.

Now in Asia

Ecorun India, a society for creating environmental awareness organized Wife Carrying Race in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India, Asia on January 1, 2011. The event is called "BHAARYAASAMETHAM" roughly translated as 'with your wife', in local language 'Malayalam'. The society plans on conducting more such events every year in India. Wife carrying in Asia is also called matukinina.

Rules

The original course is a rough, rocky terrain with fences, and brooks, but has been altered to suit modern conditions. There is now sand instead of full rocks, fences are still on the course, and some kind of area filled with water,(a pool). These are the following rules set by the International Wife Carrying Competition Rules Committee:

The length of the official track is 253.5 meters
The track has two dry obstacles and a water obstacle, about one meter deep
The wife to be carried may be your own, the neighbor's, or you may have found her further afield; she must, however, be over 17 years of age
The minimum weight of the wife to be carried is 49 kilogram
Kilogram
The kilogram or kilogramme , also known as the kilo, is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units and is defined as being equal to the mass of the International Prototype Kilogram , which is almost exactly equal to the mass of one liter of water...

s. If she is less than 49 kg, the wife will be burdened with a rucksack containing additional weight such that the total load to be carried is no less than 49 kg.
All participants must enjoy themselves
The only equipment allowed is a belt worn by the carrier, the carried must wear a helmet.
The contestants run the race two at a time, so each heat is a contest in itself
Each contestant takes care of his/her safety and, if deemed necessary, insurance
The contestants have to pay attention to the instructions given by the organizers of the competition
There is only one category in the World Championships and the winner is the couple who completes the course in the shortest time
Also the most entertaining couple, the best costume and the strongest carrier will be awarded a special prize
Participation fee is 50 euro
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...

Champions

2011 – Taisto Miettinen
Taisto Miettinen
Taisto Miettinen is an award-winning Finnish athlete. He won the gold medal for the Water Running the World 2004 and was the winner of the Wife Carrying World Championships in 2009, 2010, & 2011. He has been the oldest contestant who has won World Championship in wife carrying...

(Finland) and Kristiina Haapanen (Finland).
2010 – Taisto Miettinen
Taisto Miettinen
Taisto Miettinen is an award-winning Finnish athlete. He won the gold medal for the Water Running the World 2004 and was the winner of the Wife Carrying World Championships in 2009, 2010, & 2011. He has been the oldest contestant who has won World Championship in wife carrying...

(Finland) and Kristiina Haapanen (Finland).
2009 – Taisto Miettinen
Taisto Miettinen
Taisto Miettinen is an award-winning Finnish athlete. He won the gold medal for the Water Running the World 2004 and was the winner of the Wife Carrying World Championships in 2009, 2010, & 2011. He has been the oldest contestant who has won World Championship in wife carrying...

(Finland) and Kristiina Haapanen (Finland).
2008 – Alar Voogla (Estonia) and Kirsti Viltrop (Estonia).
2007 – Madis Uusorg (Estonia) and Inga Klauso (Estonia), time 61.7 seconds.
2006 – Margo Uusorg (Estonia) and Sandra Kullas (Estonia), time 56.9 seconds.
2005 – Margo Uusorg (Estonia) and Egle Soll (Estonia), time 59 seconds.
2004 – Madis Uusorg (Estonia) and Inga Klauso (Estonia) time one minute
Minute
A minute is a unit of measurement of time or of angle. The minute is a unit of time equal to 1/60th of an hour or 60 seconds. In the UTC time scale, a minute on rare occasions has 59 or 61 seconds; see leap second. The minute is not an SI unit; however, it is accepted for use with SI units...

and 05.3 second
Second
The second is a unit of measurement of time, and is the International System of Units base unit of time. It may be measured using a clock....

s.
2003 – Margo Uusorg (Estonia) and Egle Soll (Estonia) time one minute 0.7 seconds.
2002 – Meelis Tammre (Estonia) and Anne Zillberberg (Estonia) time one minute and 3.8 seconds.
2001 – Margo Uusorg (Estonia) and Birgit Ullrich (Estonia) time 55.6 seconds.
2000 – Margo Uusorg (Estonia) and Birgit Ullrich (Estonia), time 55.5 seconds. (World record)
1999 – Imre Ambos (Estonia) and Annela Ojaste (Estonia) time one minute and 4.5 seconds.
1998 – Imre Ambos (Estonia) and Annela Ojaste (Estonia) time one minute and 9.2 seconds.
1997 – Jouni Jussila (Finland) and Tiina Jussila (Finland) time one minute and five seconds.

Trivia

Former NBA-superstar Dennis Rodman
Dennis Rodman
Dennis Keith Rodman is a retired American Hall of Fame professional basketball player of the National Basketball Association's Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks. Born in Trenton, New Jersey, he was nicknamed "Dennis the Menace" and "The...

was present at the Wife-carrying World Championships in Sonkajärvi in 2005 but did not compete due to health problems.
North American champions Ehrin and April Armstrong were featured as guests on a first season episode of GSN's revival of I've Got a Secret
I've Got a Secret
I've Got a Secret is a panel game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS television. Created by comedy writers Allan Sherman and Howard Merrill, it was a derivative of Goodson-Todman's own panel show What's My Line?...

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External links