Couples reach Maine ski resort for annual wife-carrying championship

NEWRY, Maine: Dozens of eager competitors descended on a ski resort in Maine on October 12 for an annual event that involved dirt, beer, cash and carrying their wives.

The North American Wife Carrying Championship, a 278-yard (254-meter) race saw more than 30 couples splash through water, leap over logs and trudge through mud while carrying their partner like a sack of potatoes.

According to one of the explanations included on the website wife-carrying.org, the sport's origin is based on a 19th century Finnish legend involving a man known as "Ronkainen the Robber," whose gang was known to pillage villages and carry away the women.

Traditionally, the Finnish event featured male competitors carrying a woman. However, at the one in Maine competing couples didn't have to be married, nor did they have to be a man and a woman.

One contestant - the carrier - was dressed as Mr. Incredible, while his "wife" was dressed entirely in pink. Crowds cheered them and others heartily on both sides of the course at Sunday River ski resort. Most managed to navigate the grassy hillside, but a few stumbled in the mud, their female partners jumping off before they regrouped to continue.

Most of the participants use a technique in which the "wife" is carried like a backpack - upside down - to ensure the runners' arms are free for the greatest agility.

The champion leaves after the 'wife' is weighed on a see-saw-like scale one side with cases of beer on the other and five times the "wife's" weight in cash.

"We come each year for the fun," said Wade Porterfield of Cuba, New York, who competed with his wife, Sara Porterfield. "There is really a low chance of us winning. Pretty much everybody cheers everybody on and it's a blast."