Wife Carrying Championships

Entering and winning a Wife Carrying Championships might bring the couple five times her weight in cash and her weight in beer. Could you carry your wife through a 278-yard obstacle course? The "Estonian carry," where the wife holds her husband around the waist and tightens her legs around his neck, so his hands are free, is the carry of choice at these races. At the annual North American Wife Carrying Championship, the winners receive five times the wife's weight in cash and the traditional prize of the wife's weight in beer.

Wife Carrying Contests may have started as a joke in Finland, where supposedly a man would court a prospective wife by racing into a village, grabbing her and carrying her off. Whether it's true or not, today the Wife Carrying World Championships are held in Finland, the North American Wife Carrying Championships are held at Sunday River, Maine, and there are regional contests in other states.

Couples do not have to be married, but must include a man and a woman, and both must be at least 21-years-old. Since 2005, women have been allowed to carry men.

Annual North American Wife Carrying Championships

The 10th annual North American Wife Carrying Championship is part of the entertainment at Sunday River resort's annual Fall Festival. This year, the contest is Oct. 9, 2010.

If you would rather run a race, Sunday River has three planned. The 4-mile course is do-able for most athletes and tops one peak, the 8-mile course covers 5 peaks and the 12-mile course covers all 8 peaks of Sunday. Around these events, there's an arts and crafts fair, music by Entrain, food and wine tastings, kids games and a lot more. For more information, visit Sunday River's Wife Carrying Championship.

This competition actually started in Finland, reportedly as a joke. It was a take-off on an old tradition when a man ran to a village and grabbed then carried off the women he wanted to marry. If you want to see the competition, watch this video on YouTube.

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