Wife Carrying Competition

Wife Carrying Competition is a sport in which male competitors race each other while 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 in Finland. It originated as a joke. It was supposed to replay the way how men courted women in bygone days by running to their village, picking them up, and carrying them off.

Carrying styles include piggyback, fireman's carry (over the shoulder), or Estonian-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 Finland where the prize is the wife's weight in beer),in Monona, Wisconsin, and Marquette, Michigan.

The North American Wife Carrying Championships take place every year on Columbus Day Weekend in October at Sunday River Ski Resort in Newry, Maine.

Fancy a bit of wife carrying? Remember the Columbus Day Weekend and be in Maine to have some fun!