"The Wife-Carrying Championships have traditionally been dominated by Estonians"

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If you win the championship, you get your weight in BEER.

Tired of football, basketball or other boring sports? Well, come to Finland for the ultimate world sports event: The Wife-Carrying World Championship.
In 1992, the people of Sonkajärvi decided that it was time to revive some long-forgotten traditions: back in the late 1800's there was in the area a brigand called Rosvo-Ronkainen, who was said to have accepted in his troops only those men who proved their worth on a challenging track. In those days, it was also a common practice to steal women from the neighbouring villages.
So that's how this small town in central Finland became the focus of attention of world media and sportshusbands and wives. From year to year a large number of competitors, public, and media from Finland to Canada attend the annual Wife-Carrying rendezvous in Sonkajärvi, doubling the population of the town for the weekend.
The Wife-Carrying World Championship is becoming increasingly popular. If he were alive today, old Rosvo-Ronkainen would have faced tough competition from husbands from as far away as Estonia, Norway, Ireland, or the United States of America. And being fit would just not be enough for Rosvo's troops taking into consideration that qualifying Wife-Carrying competitions are already being held in Estonia, Sweden, Denmark, the USA, and South Korea...

― kingfish (Kingfish), Sunday, 19 June 2005 17:15 (twenty years ago)

the town that holds the event has this nice little website about it, which lists all the rules:

The length of the official track is 253.5 meters, and the surface of the track is partially sand, partially grass and partially gravel

The track has two dry obstacles and a water obstacle, about one meter deep

The wife to be carried may be your own, the neighbour's or you may have found her farther afield; she must, however, be over 17 years of age

The minimum weight of the wife to be carried is 49 kilos. If it is less than 49 kilos, the wife will be burdened with such a heavy rucksack that the total weight to be carried is 49 kilos.

All the participants must have fun...

― kingfish (Kingfish), Sunday, 19 June 2005 17:18 (twenty years ago)

There's a small flub in the article; I don't think wives were robbed from neighbouring villages as late as the late 19th century, unless it was done in a symbolic way.

Rural Finland in the summertime is a stage for all sorts of weird festivals and activities. There's also the Mosquito Killing World Championship, Swamp Football World Championship, and of course, The Air Guitar World Championship in Oulu.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Sunday, 19 June 2005 17:30 (twenty years ago)

Oh, and the story about Rosvo-Ronkainen ("Ronkainen the Bandit") sounds like a myth too. But who knows...

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 20 June 2005 06:56 (twenty years ago)

t\'\'t to thread!!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Monday, 20 June 2005 06:58 (twenty years ago)

Heh, wtf!?
I mean, I've never even thought 'bout taking part in that competition, haha.

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Monday, 20 June 2005 12:43 (twenty years ago)

You mad Balt, you try to fib to us! We know the truth! ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 20 June 2005 14:01 (twenty years ago)

Thank you, sane 'fornian, for the benefit of the doubt but I've really been more of a -dropper than a -carrier, lately :)

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Monday, 20 June 2005 14:17 (twenty years ago)

"I'm a lover not a fighter."

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 20 June 2005 16:22 (twenty years ago)

Ah, sorry Tiit, didn't mean to sound cruel.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 20 June 2005 16:22 (twenty years ago)

The championships were held last weekend, and Dennis Rodman, who was there via a sponsorship, was supposed to take part, carrying the current Miss Finland. He retired from the official race, however, saying that he had leg problems, and only took a short unofficial run carrying a Finnish student girl. Today, the headline of one of our tabloids is, "Miss Finland wasn't good enough for Rodman!". Rodman promised to come back next year, though, and win the whole race!

Oh, and the championship went to the Estonians, again. Here's the news story in Finnish, couldn't find it in English.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 4 July 2005 09:28 (twenty years ago)

"Miss Finland wasn't good enough for Rodman!"

Hmh, considering the context, one could as well agrue the opposite:
Rodman wasn't man enough for Miss Finland.

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Monday, 4 July 2005 13:26 (twenty years ago)

Haha, true.

Rodman may have done only an unofficial run, but at least he did the carrying part with style:

http://www.iltalehti.fi/2005/07/04/dentm_side_uu.jpg

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 4 July 2005 14:02 (twenty years ago)

Though with the "wife's" position, the complete track might've proven quite difficult. Especially the water obstacle.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Monday, 4 July 2005 14:05 (twenty years ago)

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=583&e=1&u=/nm/20050702/od_nm/odd_finland_wifecarrying_dc

Estonians snatch world wife-carrying title again
Sat Jul 2, 1:43 PM ET

http://us.news3.yimg.com/us.i2.yimg.com/p/nm/20050702/mdf599459.jpg?x=250&y=345&sig=zvMVlpHETMHY370__vjeQA--SONKAJARVI, Finland (Reuters) - Estonia reigned supreme once again in the wife-carrying world championship on Saturday, as Margo Uusorg sprinted home to win the Baltic country's eighth straight title in the offbeat competition.

Forty couples from 10 countries gathered in the remote Finnish village of Sonkajarvi to complete a 253.5-meter-long obstacle course. A man must carry a woman, not necessarily his spouse, through a pool and across hurdles.

The few rules require a minimum weight of 49 kg (108 lb) for the "wife" and state that all contestants must have fun.

Uusorg, 25, completed the course in 59 seconds with friend Egle Soll, 23, clinging to his back in the trademark "Estonian Carry" -- hanging upside down with her legs clenched around his neck.

Uusorg's prizes were his partner's weight in beer and a high-tech mobile phone.

It was his fourth victory, and the third in a row for his family. Brother Madis won in 2004.

"We don't have a secret, we just try to run fast and hope the legs work," said Uusorg, who works in Stockholm as an embassy driver. He warned that the family would be even stronger contenders next year when brother number three, Urmet, takes part.

"He holds the Estonian record for the 800 meters," Uusorg said.

Uusorg and Soll received first prize from the hands of visiting U.S.
basketball legend Dennis Rodman, who declined to compete, saying he lacked both a wife and proper training.

"I'm not in shape ... It could hurt the back," said the former Chicago
Bulls and Detroit Pistons forward. But he promised to train for next year.

"I'll carry the kids around the house or something," he said.

Some 9,000 people came to view the event, set deep in forests and lakes a couple of hours' drive from the Arctic Circle. It began in 1992 as a purely Finnish contest based on local legend, according to which wife-stealing was once commonplace in the region.

― kingfish (Kingfish), Monday, 4 July 2005 19:01 (twenty years ago)

Oh, it looks like the upside-down carrying style is valid after all... I still wonder about the water obsctacle though, according to the rules upthread it's one meter deep. The carrier has to be a tall fellow, or maybe the carree just holds her breath.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 5 July 2005 07:08 (twenty years ago)

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