The International Wife Carrying Championships are held every year in the small village of Sonkajaervi, Finland. Husbands must carry their spouses along a course with several obstacles during this tournament.
The track is 250 meters long and includes many terrestrial obstacles as well as a 1-meter deep swimming pool.
Carrying can be done in a variety of ways, including the standard piggyback, the fireman's carry (over the shoulder), or the Estonian-style carry (wife upside-down on his back with her legs over the neck and shoulders).
Also known as Eukonkanto, it has its origins in Finland. There are legends about a guy named Herkko Rosvo-Ronkainen (aka Ronkainen the Robber). In the late 1800s, this man was a bandit who resided in a forest and roamed around with his gang of thieves creating havoc in the communities. There are three theories as to why/how this sport was formed, based on what has been discovered. To begin with, Rosvo-Ronkainen and his gang were suspected of stealing food and kidnapping women from villages in the region where he resided, then fleeing with the ladies on their backs (hence the "wife" or woman carrying). The second theory proposes that young men take women from nearby villages and force them to marry, frequently women who are already married. These spouses were also carried on the backs of the young men, a practice referred to as "wife theft." Finally, there's the theory that Rosvo-Ronkainen taught his robbers to be "faster and stronger" by making them carry large, heavy bags on their backs, which led to the creation of this sport. Despite the fact that the sport is sometimes mocked, athletes treat it with the same seriousness as any other sport.
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