LAC LA BICHE - Local media stories from the Lac La Biche POST newsroom have helped carry interest about the Alberta Wife Carrying Championship in Lac La Biche to a wider audience, and organizers hope the buzz will generate more teams for next year’s races.
This year's winner came from the Edmonton OIlers strength coaching team.
From stories first published in the local newspaper and online at www.lakelandtoday.ca, the event has been heard to provincial radio, and even viewed through a link on the Edmonton Oilers social media pages
This year – the second time for the event in Lac La Biche County – the 2024 wife carrying contest took place on July 13 at Lac La Biche County’s Lakeland Agricom as part of the Lakeland Country Fair. The race drew hundreds of cheering spectators and 13 teams – each made up of one person being carried and one running – that dashed through the 278-yard outdoor obstacle course.
Aurel Langevin, the president of the Lac La Biche Agricultural Society, said the hype around the event is growing, and he thinks next year’s run will have a lot more teams to cheer – and a lot more spectators doing the cheering. He is amazed at how much the competition has gained traction in Alberta over the past year or so, and in that time, he has done interviews with numerous media outlets.
“I can just see this thing growing,” he said.
“The ones that came from out-of-town thought that it was a great event, and indicated that they’re going to be back,” he said, adding that tourists also approached organizers to say how much they enjoyed the wife carrying competition.
Edmonton Oilers connection
The other teams come from out of town to compete, including the winners, Joel and Alysha Jackson of Edmonton. Joel is an assistant strength and conditioning coach with the Edmonton Oilers.
The Jacksons, whose time was one minute and 15.47 seconds, won $670 – five times Alysha’s weight) and with 15 dozen beer (the equivalent of her weight), four Edmonton Riverhawks tickets, as well as T-shirts showing that they had competed in the Alberta Wife Carrying Championships.
Those being carried-as well as those doing the carrying-enjoyed themselves, Langevin said, and he hopes to see them come back again next year.
“For the ones who came out, we had real great participation,” he stated.
Langevin is optimistic that the only sanctioned wife carrying contest in Canada will continue to grow in popularly and gain more fans-as well as participants.
In a bid to get more people facing off against each other for the unique and fun races that reward winners with beer and cash, organizers with the local Ag Society are looking at even more ways to get the message out.
Langevin thinks that “carry-challenges” could be sent out to local organizations, like the local fire departments and first responders.
“They’re supposed to be able to carry people out of burning buildings,” he said with a laugh. “So, let’s see how you can do running a race with somebody on your back.”
Video and photos of the recent championships are available at www.lakelandtoday.ca. Links to the Lac La Biche Agricultural Society can also be found on the local media website.
