The annual Saturday, dirt, beer and cash event drew dozens of eager competitors to a Maine ski resort once again this year.
More than 30 couples competed in the North American Wife Carry Championship. The race is a 278-yard race in which participants splash through water, jump over logs, and trudge through mud while carrying their partners like sacks of potatoes.
This sport's origin story is not exactly politically correct. According to one of the descriptions posted on the website wife-carrying.org, the work is based on a 19th-century Finnish legend involving a man known as “Ronkainen the Robber.” The gang was known to pillage villages and carry away women.
Traditionally, Finnish events have featured male competitors accompanied by women.
On Saturday, competing couples did not have to be married or be a man and a woman.
One of the contestants, a trucker, was dressed as Mr. Incredible, and his “wife” was dressed head to toe in pink.
They and others received hearty cheers from spectators on both sides of the course at Sunday River Ski Resort.
Most managed to make their way along the grassy hillside, but a few stumbled in the mud and their female partners jumped off before regrouping and continuing on.
Most participants use the technique of carrying the “wife” upside down, like a backpack, to free the runner's arms and achieve maximum agility. Despite smiling and grimacing, the contestants end up covered in wet mud.
The champion takes home his wife's weight in beer and five times his wife's weight in cash.
To estimate the winning amount, the winning “wife” is placed on one side of a seesaw-like scale, with the host balancing a case of beer on the other side.
“We look forward to it every year,” said Wade Porterfield of New York, Cuba, who competed with his wife, Sarah Porterfield. “The chances of us winning are really slim. Most of the people are rooting for everyone and it's a lot of fun.”
