Wife Carrying World Championships

1-3 July 2005 the Wife Carrying contest will be organised for the thirteenth time, for the ninth time on the world championship level in Sonkajärvi, Finland.

The wife to be carried may be your own, the neighbour's or you may have found her farther afield; she must, however, be over 17 years of age. The minimum weight of the wife to be carried is 49 kilos. If it is less than 49 kilos, the wife will be burdened with such a heavy rucksack that the total weight to be carried is 49 kilos.

On Friday night there will be Wife Carrying triathlon, which includes side step, riding a bike with the wife sitting in front of the man and wife carrying while running through the 253,5 m long track in the new wife carrying arena. The track has the traditional dry obstacles and water pool, too.

In the late 1800's there was in the area a brigand called Rosvo-Ronkainen, who is said to have accepted in this troops only those men who proved their worth on a challenging track. In those days, it was also a common practice to steal women from the neighbouring villages.