Wife Carrying

For those of you who have had your fill of mystery chocolates and desperately affectionate teddy bears, I might have just the suggestion to help you break out of your Valentine’s Day stupor. Forget about long-stemmed roses, look into a wife carrying competition.
Nope, I didn't make it up, it's real. This quirky sport for the young-of-heart and strong-of-legs originates from Sonkajärvi, Finland, which is widely (though perhaps not thoroughy) accredited as the birthplace of wife carrying and the annual World Championship for the sport held there since 1994.
The rules are pretty self-explanatory. The male competitor must carry his female teammate through a 253.5 meter obstacle course (official length) as fast as possible, often climbing hurdles and trudging through watery trenches. The team does not technically have to be married, so long as the woman is at least 17 years of age and weighing no less than 110 lbs. Additional weight will be added to women weighing less. As if satisfaction of winning weren’t reward enough, the team with the fastest time of course completion wins the wife’s weight in beer and five times her weight in cash.
The most popular method for carrying “the wife” is Estonian-style, in which the woman will hang upside-down against her partner’s back, holding his waist and resting her legs over his shoulders. Though the woman’s position might seem less than comfortable (of course she is encouraged to wear a helmet during the race), this approach is said to help balance the runner while he runs. The traditional styles of “piggyback” and “fireman’s carry” are also common in the competition, but neither have the appearance of united suffering quite like Estonian Style; his legs burn while her face bounces. This level of sacrifice is beautiful, no?
Some sources report that the sport dates back to the 19th century and commemorates a practice for training soldiers with heavy sacs. Others say it sprouted from the frequent stealing of wives from neighboring villages during raids, because the robbers would run away with the women on their backs. Maybe you’re thinking this story won’t have a happy ending because it sounds dreadful, but wife stealing would then have evolved into wife carrying, which rolls off the tongue a little sweeter and is far more concentual.
Perhaps wife carrying is not the kind of sport that you would sit on the couch and watch on a Saturday afternoon (at least not on my satelite package), but it is a sport that a lot of couples and friends enjoy as a challenge and an opportunity to bond while competing as a team. Sure it seems silly to race around an obstacle course in such a ridiculous and primitive manner, but if you can’t have a laugh at your own expense and a little adventure with your “better half” or a good friend, then looking foolish is the least of your worries.