Wife-Carrying Races Draw International Competitors
This year, 49 couples have signed up from 14 countries, including the US, Britain, China, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Israel, and Kenya.
The races include the traditional quarter-kilometre wife-carrying event, the 100-metre sprint, and a new wife-carrying marathon, which simply awards the couple that can run the farthest in six minutes.
There is also the wife-carrying relay, in which three men take turns with one "wife". This race includes downing a mandatory alcoholic drink at each hand-off.
The official rules of the contest state that "The wife to be carried may be your own, the neighbour’s or you may have found her farther afield," as long as she is over 17 years of age and weighs more than 49 kilos.
Couples are also fined 15 seconds each time the wife is dropped.
The wife-carrying competition has its roots in Sonkajärvi history. In the 1800's, the infamous leader of a pack of bandits, Ronkainen, used to test robber recruits by forcing them to run a cross-country race carrying sacks of rye.