Are you getting tired of tractor pulls and demolition derbies at the local fall fairs and at some of the summer outdoor events? Organizers need to come up with a different kind of contest. One that isn’t so awfully noisy. We need a contest that is hilarious and bizarre. I know just the contest –it’s very popular in Finland.
In Finland, tossing your wife over your shoulder and running through an obstacle course is a very popular competition of the fittest. It’s called Carry the Wife Competition. In fact, it’s a world championship competition.
The bizarre event, in which a man carries a woman over a 260-metre obstacle course, is all done in good fun and for entertainment. Initially, arranged to attract eligible men to the predominately female village of Sonkajarvi (only a few hours drive from the Arctic Circle), the competition now attracts contestants from all over Finland and abroad.
I heard about the contest when I was in Finland a few summers ago. Our Finnish tour guide also mentioned it and had to laugh that the Finns never win — the Estonians do. “And we’re good sports, we don’t mind if they win,” she laughed.
The wife to be carried may be your own. And if she doesn’t want to, that’s okay. You can take your neighbour’s wife, or you may find one farther away. If you don’t have a wife, that’s no problem either. Just find a willing partner. She must be 17 years of age and she must weigh 49 kilos (108 pounds)– if less, the woman will be burdened with additional weight (bag of sand) so her weight is 49 kilos.
There are no rules how to carry her. However, if you drop her, you’re disqualified. If you do drop her, it’s probably better she’s not your wife, right?
She can be carried over the shoulder with her feet up in the air and her head downwards, or she can be carried with her bottom facing upwards.
Some contestants have the woman squeeze her thighs on the side of the man’s face while hanging upside down on his back. And that position seems to give the man a winning edge as he races down the obstacle course and crosses the finish line in just over one minute.
I noticed from a picture there is a log about two feet off the ground that contestants have to step over. Contestants also have to cross a water pond that’s a metre deep.
Note to local fair boards: Each contestant in Finland is responsible for providing his and her own insurance. It still costs 100,000 euros to stage the annual July 5 event that attracts 8,000 people and millions more watch it on television around the world.
The winning couple wins a heap of rye bread and most importantly — the woman’s weight in beer, which amounts to almost 45 litres of ale.
I’m sure there are many strong young lads and young gals here who will be eager to sign up for this wacky competition — just as there are for the demolition derby.
If contestants from all over Finland, Estonia, Denmark, other European countries and some from Canada and the U.S. come to Finland for the bizarre event, I’m sure it could be a big hit at our local fairs.
