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Wife-carrying too alluring a brew, too heavy a weight
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-07 07:28 SONKAJARVI, Finland: Julia Galvin came to Finland looking for a man who would carry over a 253-m track - the incentive being the chance to win the wife-carrying world title and beer worth her body weight. She weighes 120 kgs. In the end a Briton carried the Irish woman through a pool and across hurdles. She did not make the gold, but said she would keep trying until the title and the beer was hers. "I think I am worth carrying because I am a walking party," she said.
Wife-carrying is one of a host of bizarre contests that Finns, who can tend to gloominess in the long dark winter, have devised for the scant months of summer when the sun hardly sets and people's mood turns frolicsome. Forty-eight couples from 13 countries, including Kenya, Australia and Canada, gathered in the remote Finnish village of Sonkajarvi to complete the track. Estonia reigned supreme once 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. Germany took away the silver and England the bronze, while the hosting Finns had to do with a win in the 100-m sprint, held as a side-competition to the world-known event. While some competitors at the event are nearly professional athletes, others do it for fun or as a hobby. Third-placed Ash Davies and Aila Bruce put extra 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," Davies said. About 5,000 people watched the event, set deep in forests and lakes near the Arctic Circle. Agencies |
