Sponsored by
England grab bronze in wife-carrying champs
FORTY-eight couples from 13 countries, including Kenya, Australia and Canada, have gathered in a remote Finnish village to complete a track in the annual wife-carrying contest.
Estonia reigned supreme again, as Alar Voogla sprinted home in just over a minute to win the Baltic country's 11th title, with Kirsti Viltrop clinging upside-down to his back.
"Yesterday we have had really bad luck, because we fell and lost our first place in the sprint and today it's super," Viltrop said.
Germany took silver and England bronze, while the Finns had a win in the 100m sprint, a side-competition to the world-known event.
While some competitors are nearly professional athletes, others do it for fun.
Third-placed Ash Davies and Aila Bruce put thought in designing their costume, to get the extra edge. "We came with our costume designer all the way from England - she has designed this especially, so we can compete, streamline you know, aerodynamic tuning," Davies said.
Some 5,000 people came to view the event, set in forests and lakes near the Arctic Circle.
The contest is based on the legend of Ronkainen the Robber, said in the 19th Century to have tested would-be members of his gang by making them lug sacks of grain or live swine over a course. It is also said to stem from an earlier tribal practice of wife-stealing.
It has inspired others to organise events such as sauna sitting, swamp football, cell phone throwing or karaoke singing.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Clitheroe
Monday 28 May 2012
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 11 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South west
