Spring Break
Win your wife's weight in beer
Annual contest a unique work out
Issue date: 9/26/07 Section: Sports
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Instead of explaining weeks seven through nine of the 100-push-up workout, I've decided to take a bye week to talk about one of the craziest fitness events of 2007 - the eighth-annual North American Wife Carrying Championships.
The contest takes place on Oct. 6 near the Sunday River Ski Resort, just outside of Bethel, Maine.
It originated in Finnish history with a warrior named "Rankainen the Robber," who made potential members of his troop run an obstacle course with a heavy sack on their back. Substitute the sack for a wife, and voila, you've got the National Wife Carrying Championships.
The course measures 278 yards in length and consists of four parts: an uphill sprint, a waist-deep water pit, two log hurdles and a final downhill stretch. Contestants can use any carrying method, whether it's the fireman's carry, the piggy-back carry or some other lesser-known method. The only rule is you can't drop your wife. For every time she hits the ground, you lose five points.
The contest is run in heats with two teams racing together. The two teams with the fastest times and the least number of drops qualify for the championship round, with the winner of that round claiming the North American Wife Carrying Champion title.
And this isn't just any title - it gets better. The champion gets his wife's weight in beer and five-times her weight in cash. Prizes also are given to the second- and third-place contestants, as well as the fastest groups with a combined age more than 80 or a combined weight more than 350.
What the rules don't specify is whether the prizes overlap - say, if your team places first, has a combined age more than 80 and a combined weight more than 350. Who knows? You could claim three prizes - assuming you and your wife are in your early forties, or you're a typical college student married to a 60-year-old woman.
Whatever you do, don't show up to this event unprepared. A contestant of the 2006 championship said he purchased an "80-pound bag of mortar mix" and "ran up the Caribou Alpine Ski Hill a couple of times a week" to prepare for the contest, which he ended up winning.
If ever there were a reason to get married, this is it. You've got two weeks to find yourself a wife and buy a ticket.
- Daniel Hanna is a columnist for The Red & Black.
The contest takes place on Oct. 6 near the Sunday River Ski Resort, just outside of Bethel, Maine.
It originated in Finnish history with a warrior named "Rankainen the Robber," who made potential members of his troop run an obstacle course with a heavy sack on their back. Substitute the sack for a wife, and voila, you've got the National Wife Carrying Championships.
The course measures 278 yards in length and consists of four parts: an uphill sprint, a waist-deep water pit, two log hurdles and a final downhill stretch. Contestants can use any carrying method, whether it's the fireman's carry, the piggy-back carry or some other lesser-known method. The only rule is you can't drop your wife. For every time she hits the ground, you lose five points.
The contest is run in heats with two teams racing together. The two teams with the fastest times and the least number of drops qualify for the championship round, with the winner of that round claiming the North American Wife Carrying Champion title.
And this isn't just any title - it gets better. The champion gets his wife's weight in beer and five-times her weight in cash. Prizes also are given to the second- and third-place contestants, as well as the fastest groups with a combined age more than 80 or a combined weight more than 350.
What the rules don't specify is whether the prizes overlap - say, if your team places first, has a combined age more than 80 and a combined weight more than 350. Who knows? You could claim three prizes - assuming you and your wife are in your early forties, or you're a typical college student married to a 60-year-old woman.
Whatever you do, don't show up to this event unprepared. A contestant of the 2006 championship said he purchased an "80-pound bag of mortar mix" and "ran up the Caribou Alpine Ski Hill a couple of times a week" to prepare for the contest, which he ended up winning.
If ever there were a reason to get married, this is it. You've got two weeks to find yourself a wife and buy a ticket.
- Daniel Hanna is a columnist for The Red & Black.
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