VIDEO: Couple Wins Cash and Beer in 17th Annual Wife Carrying Contest
Prize amount determined by how much the winning wife weighs
October 10, 2016
On Saturday, a husband and wife team from Maine won the 2016 North American Wife Carrying Championship, besting 43 other couples who competed in the annual event. Giana Storey latched onto her husband Elliot during the 278-yard obstacle course which the couple completed in 59.18 seconds.
“You get tired, holding on, because of the way I hold on, I guess,” Giana said after the race.
The Storeys won 11 cases of Goose Island Octoberfest beer and $665. The amount of those prizes are determined by the weight of the winning wife – a pound of beer for every pound of Giana plus five times her weight in cash. They’ll now compete in the world championship in Finland next year.
Wife carrying for sport is believed to be based on Finland’s “Ronkainen the Robber,” whose 19th century gang was famous for pillaging villages and taking their women. Other legends suggest Ronkainen required gang members to prove themselves by completing a course while carrying a heavy sack or, better yet, carrying a woman.
The modern day course features sand traps, log hurdles, and water hazards, the latter of which wives usually end up entering head first due to the traditional technique couples use to hold onto one another.
Watch video from the 2016 championship (above).
