Wedding Blog

Are you and your partner trying to get fit for the wedding day? Are you a competitive couple? Do you enjoy outdoor activities? I recommend training and competing in the North American Wife Carrying Championships! The winners will receive the wife’s weight in beer and the wife’s weight times 5 in cash.

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According to the website, the 278-yard course begins with an uphill run on a dirt road and continues through a field, a 10-meter long waist-deep water obstacle, and then downhill and over two 39-inch high log hurdles. The course is relatively flat with sections of soft sand and grass, and one hairpin turn.

SIL Pinot brought the Wife Carrying Championship to our attention over the summer but unfortunately we couldn’t participate this year because it was being held on our wedding day. Last night, while having dinner with SIL Pinot, we decided to begin our training for the 10th Annual Competition in October 2009.

Wife carrying contests started out in Finland and now the sport is practiced around the world and is a category in the Guinness Book of Records. You can read all about the sport on Wikipedia. There is also a video posted here.

It should be noted that couples do not need to be legally married to participate and, if desired, the “wife” can carry the “husband.”

First we tried the fireman’s hold, but that didn’t allow for Mr. PN to move around very much.

Then we tried the Estonian-style, in which the wife hangs upside-down with her legs around the husband’s shoulders, holding onto his waist. This is apparently the most effective carrying method as all the previous winners of the North American Wife Carrying Championship have used this method.

Wife carrying is harder than it looks. Mr. PN and I are in pretty good shape, but wife carrying is hard work!

What do you think hive?! Would you and your honey try it out?