There's still a bit of time for local teams to register for Canada's only sanctioned wife-carrying race.
The fastest of those who carry — and those being carried — through a challenging 278-yard obstacle course at the upcoming Lakeland County Fair in Lac La Biche, could be carrying the pride of Canada at the North American Wife Carrying Championships in Maine this October.
The Lac La Biche Agricultural Society is hosting the only sanctioned Wife Carrying Race in Canada on Saturday, July 15 at the Lac La Biche Agricultural Grounds.
There's a few questions hanging onto this event. First — Yes, it's a real thing. Second — Yes, it really is a real thing. Third — How, you ask? Well, it seems you just hold on and go
So... Fireman or piggyback?
According to the Sunday River Skiway Corporation, a recreation business in Maine that has trademarked the North American Wife Carrying Championships, the most popular way to hoist your honey around the course, is the "Estonian" carry.
C'mon don't tell us you don't know what that is. (Ok - we had to look it up too.) It's where the wife hangs upside-down with her chest on her hubby's back and her legs around his shoulders. She can wrap her own arms around his waist, or hold onto a belt, while his arms are free to push past obstacle, wave to the fans along the sidelines, and keep his balance on the uneven course. And by 'uneven' the organizers mean bumpy, dusty, dirty, muddy and wet.
She hangs upside down on his back with her legs around his neck
— The classic "Estonian" hold for the Wife-Carrying Races
The course is 278 yards. Not 279, and definitely not 277. We''re still not sure why it has to be exactly 278 yards, except for (take a deep breath here before you read on) information in a Finnish event program from the 2022 World Wife Carrying Championships, that says a Nordic Robin Hood-type of folklore legend from the 1800s called "Ronkainen the Robber" would hold training camps for his gang to see if bad guys were tough enough to rob, pillage and run away by making them complete a long obstacle course carrying a heavy sack ... or a woman they had taken from a near-by town.
The course at the modern day events can include log hurdles, sand traps, hay bale towers, tires, and what organizers loving call the 'Widow-maker" water hazard.
Finish first for Finnish finals
And why do teams sign up to do this? Well at the Lac La Biche Country Fair event, the winning team gets the woman's weight in beer and five times her weight in prize money. Similar prizes are available in the North American Championships held in three month's time. Winners from that event can compete in Finland in June next year for the World Wife Carrying Championships.
According to the North American Wife Carrying Championships website, the fastest racers at the 2022 championships recorded a couple-scurrying time of just 55 seconds to clear the course. The Wisconsin couple won $511 — five times her weight — and her weight in beer.
Does it all sound like something you could spend a minute doing? Climb on, let's go for a ride, says Lac La Biche Agricultural Society member Aurel Langevin, adding that spectator seating will be set up at the course.
"It's going to be fun to watch ... but I bet more fun to try," said Langevin, who adds he likely won't be competing, "... but you never know."
Register now - spots still available
Register now for the Wife Carrying Race at the Lakeland Country Fair. The rules are pretty simple. The woman being carried doesn't have to be a wife in the legal sense to the carrier, and anyone over the age of 20 can enter.
There is a $25 entry fee that includes a meal after the race.
Registration forms can be found online at the Lac La Biche Agricultural Society social media pages or by clicking on the link in the large ad on the www.lakelandtoday.ca home page.
The Lakeland Country Fair runs July 14 and 15 and also features a Friday night rodeo, live music and a Saturday horticulture show.
