Finnish pair wins a barrel of ale in annual…
To have and to maintain took on a new that means for about two dozen {couples} who put their relationships to the take a look at on a grassy hill in southern England.
Wives and girlfriends clung on for expensive life as their companions carried them up and down a hillside for the UK Wife Carrying Race, one of the nation’s quirkiest annual sports activities occasions.
On Sunday, Teemu Touvinen and Jatta Leinonen from Finland have been topped the winners at 1 minute and 45 seconds. Their prize? A barrel of local ale.
People participate in the annual UK Wife Carrying Race in Dorking, England, on March 8, 2026. AP
The awkward footrace in Dorking, Surrey is said to be impressed by a Nineteenth-century Finnish legend about a gang that pillages villages and steals the ladies.
These days the emphasis is on lighthearted enjoyable. Silly costumes are inspired, and racers could be males or females carrying anybody over 18 and weighing at least 110 kilos.
Those under that weight need to put on a rucksack stuffed with flour or water to convey them to the minimal weight.
“You do not have to carry your own wife. It could be someone else’s. Or a mate, girlfriend, boyfriend, sister or brother,” organizers said. “They should ideally weigh less than you do.”
Couples can select their carrying method, though most contestants favored the normal “Estonian Hold,” where the “wife” hangs upside-down on the service’s back with their legs crossed in entrance of his face.
Wives and girlfriends clung on for expensive life as their companions carried them up and down a hillside for the UK Wife Carrying Race, one of the nation’s quirkiest annual sports activities occasions. AP
Contestants raced up a gently sloping hillside and back down, clearing obstacles like low rows of hay bales and having buckets of water thrown at them for good measure.
The course is 416 yards long — “a long way under the circumstances,” organizers famous.
While still area of interest, the Scandinavian sport has a following in the UK, United States, Australia, Poland and other international locations. The race in England first began in 2008.
The quickest British couple, Edward Nash and Kathryn Knight, who got here just 4 seconds behind the winners, will signify the UK at the World Wife Carrying Championships in Finland in July.
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