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Estonians snatch world wife-carrying title again Sat
(submitted by gekkogecko)
SONKAJARVI, Finland (Reuters) - Estonia reigned
supreme once again in the wife-carrying world
championship on Saturday, as Margo Uusorg sprinted
home to win the Baltic country's eighth straight title
in the offbeat competition.
Forty couples from 10 countries gathered in the remote
Finnish village of Sonkajarvi to complete a
253.5-meter-long obstacle course. A man must carry a
woman, not necessarily his spouse, through a pool and
across hurdles.
The few rules require a minimum weight of 49 kg (108
lb) for the "wife" and state that all contestants must
have fun.
Uusorg, 25, completed the course in 59 seconds with
friend Egle Soll, 23, clinging to his back in the
trademark "Estonian Carry" -- hanging upside down with
her legs clenched around his neck.
Uusorg's prizes were his partner's weight in beer and
a high-tech mobile phone.
It was his fourth victory, and the third in a row for
his family. Brother Madis won in 2004.
"We don't have a secret, we just try to run fast and
hope the legs work," said Uusorg, who works in
Stockholm as an embassy driver. He warned that the
family would be even stronger contenders next year
when brother number three, Urmet, takes part.
"He holds the Estonian record for the 800 meters,"
Uusorg said.
Uusorg and Soll received first prize from the hands of
visiting U.S. basketball legend Dennis Rodman, who
declined to compete, saying he lacked both a wife and
proper training.
"I'm not in shape ... It could hurt the back," said
the former Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons forward.
But he promised to train for next year.
"I'll carry the kids around the house or something,"
he said.
Some 9,000 people came to view the event, set deep in
forests and lakes a couple of hours' drive from the
Arctic Circle. It began in 1992 as a purely Finnish
contest based on local legend, according to which
wife-stealing was once commonplace in the region.
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