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.