Wife-carrying championship victory brings beer and cash

NEWRY, Maine — Some partners are carried over the threshold. Others are carried over a muddy obstacle course.

The competitors hoist up their partners and begin a muddy, 254-meter race Saturday, splashing through water, jumping over logs and trudging through mud during the North American Wife Carrying Championship.

There is nothing graceful or graceful about the raucous event at Sunday River Ski Area.

And the loot is modest: cash and beer.

Most participants use a technique in which the “woman” is worn like a backpack – but upside down – to ensure that the runners’ arms are free for the greatest agility. With a smile and a grimace, the participants end up wet and muddy after splashing through the water, climbing over tree trunks and sometimes falling down.

The sport’s origin story isn’t exactly politically correct. It is based on the Finnish ‘Ronkainen the Robber’, whose gang was known for plundering villages and carrying off the women.

Traditionally, the Finnish event featured male participants wearing women’s clothes. On Saturday, the competing couples did not have to be married, nor did they have to be a man and a woman.

There is no gold medal or trophy for the winner. Instead, the champion leaves with the “woman’s” weight in beer and five times the woman’s weight in cash.