Step aside, Olympics… it’s time for the wife-carrying championships! Hungarian husbands lug their spouses through muddy puddles in bizarre challenge dating back more than 1,000 years

Hungarian husbands leave Olympic athletes behind: 29 couples in the village of Tápióbicske took part in the fifth wife-carrying race today.

A group of men struggled through rough terrain and mud puddles, dragging their partners on their backs, in an attempt to cross the finish line first.

But the prize for this strange sport is even stranger: the winning team gets paid in beer – as much as the woman’s weight!

The rules of the race are that the husbands must carry their wives through an obstacle course as quickly as possible.

The length of the racecourse is approximately 260 metres and consists of two dry obstacle courses and a moat that is approximately one metre deep.

Video footage of today’s race shows husbands carrying their wives on their backs through a muddy ditch as spectators cheer on the competitors.

And while attendance was small the first year, with only 12 participants, the race’s popularity has grown over the years

Videos and photos from today’s race show husbands carrying their wives across a muddy ditch as spectators cheer on the participants

While some couples effortlessly overcome the obstacles, others struggle. For example, one wife falls off her partner’s back in anger when he lands in the ditch.

But Saturday’s event was not the first in the village southeast of Budapest.

In 2020, sporting event organizer ExtremeRush brought the championship to Tápióbicske.

Gergo Guraly, one of the lead organisers of ExtremeRush, told MailOnline that the competition was launched with the aim of encouraging people to ‘live in the moment’.

Although attendance was low in the first year (only 12 people participated in 2020), the race’s popularity has increased over the years.

Guraly also said the event has now become a “serious competition, where even tenths of a second count.”

Among the participants were the world champions in female carrying Kirkliauskas Vytautas and Neringa Kirkliauskiene from Lithuania, who also finished first today.

Although it is a new tradition in Hungary, such races are also held in other countries. They are especially popular in Finland and Estonia.

The origins of the sport are unclear, but according to ExtremerRush, the practice dates back 11 centuries.

Competitors compete in a wife carrying championship in Tapiobicske, Hungary, August 10, 2024

Couples race through water ditches in Hungarian wife-carrying contest

In 2020, sporting event organizer ExtremeRush brought the championship to Tápióbicske

Although it is a new tradition in Hungary, there are also races in which women are carried in other countries. They are especially popular in Finland and Estonia.

The winning team will be paid in beer equal to the woman’s weight!

Some believe it began in 895 AD, when conquerors swept through the Carpathian Basin with their wives on their backs.

Others believe it originated in Finland in the late 19th century by a villain named Herkko Rosvo-Ronkainen, who was known to plunder villages with his gang of thieves.

It is believed that the sport originated from Rosvo-Ronkainen and his crew kidnapping women from the villages they attacked and running away with them on their backs. Other theories suggest that Rosvo-Ronkainen trained his thieves to be ‘faster and stronger’ by carrying large, heavy sacks, from which the sport originated.

Although the race is often light-hearted, its participants take it very seriously, like any other sport. There is even a section for it in the Guinness Book of Records.

Currently the record breakers in the sport are Ross and Nicole McCurdy from the USA, who completed the race on July 23, 2020 in Silverdale, Washington, USA, in under 20 seconds.

Since 1992, the World Wife Carrying Championships have been held annually in Sonkajärvi, Finland.

Although the sport is often light-hearted, participants take it very seriously, just like any other sport. There is even a section for it in the Guinness Book of Records.

This is the fifth Tapiobicske women’s carrying event

Since 1992, the World Wife Carrying Championships have been held annually in Sonkajärvi, Finland

Participants will compete in a wife carrying championship in Tapiobicske, Hungary on Saturday