ChickyBaby
Really Experienced
- Joined
- May 18, 2005
- Posts
- 190
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/050702/80/fmizv.html
"SONKAJARVI, Finland (Reuters) - Estonia reigned supreme once again in
the wife-carrying world championship on Saturday, as Margo Uusorg
sprinted home to win the Baltic country's eighth straight title in the
offbeat competition.
Forty couples from 10 countries gathered in the remote Finnish village
of Sonkajarvi to complete a 253.5-metre-long obstacle course. A man
must carry a woman, not necessarily his spouse, through a pool and
across hurdles.
The few rules require a minimum weight of 49 kg (108 lb) for the
"wife" and state that all contestants must have fun.
Uusorg, 25, completed the course in 59 seconds with friend Egle Soll,
23, clinging to his back in the trademark "Estonian Carry" -- hanging
upside down with her legs clenched around his neck.
Uusorg's prizes were his partner's weight in beer and a high-tech mobile phone.
It was his fourth victory, and the third in a row for his family.
Brother Madis won in 2004.
"We don't have a secret, we just try to run fast and hope the legs
work," said Uusorg, who works in Stockholm as an embassy driver. He
warned that the family would be even stronger contenders next year
when brother number three, Urmet, takes part.
"He holds the Estonian record for the 800 metres," Uusorg said.
Uusorg and Soll received first prize from the hands of visiting U.S.
basketball legend Dennis Rodman, who declined to compete, saying he
lacked both a wife and proper training.
"I'm not in shape ... It could hurt the back," said the former Chicago
Bulls and Detroit Pistons forward. But he promised to train for next
year.
"I'll carry the kids around the house or something," he said.
Some 9,000 people came to view the event, set deep in forests and
lakes a couple of hours' drive from the Arctic Circle. It began in
1992 as a purely Finnish contest based on local legend, according to
which wife-stealing was once commonplace in the region. "
"SONKAJARVI, Finland (Reuters) - Estonia reigned supreme once again in
the wife-carrying world championship on Saturday, as Margo Uusorg
sprinted home to win the Baltic country's eighth straight title in the
offbeat competition.
Forty couples from 10 countries gathered in the remote Finnish village
of Sonkajarvi to complete a 253.5-metre-long obstacle course. A man
must carry a woman, not necessarily his spouse, through a pool and
across hurdles.
The few rules require a minimum weight of 49 kg (108 lb) for the
"wife" and state that all contestants must have fun.
Uusorg, 25, completed the course in 59 seconds with friend Egle Soll,
23, clinging to his back in the trademark "Estonian Carry" -- hanging
upside down with her legs clenched around his neck.
Uusorg's prizes were his partner's weight in beer and a high-tech mobile phone.
It was his fourth victory, and the third in a row for his family.
Brother Madis won in 2004.
"We don't have a secret, we just try to run fast and hope the legs
work," said Uusorg, who works in Stockholm as an embassy driver. He
warned that the family would be even stronger contenders next year
when brother number three, Urmet, takes part.
"He holds the Estonian record for the 800 metres," Uusorg said.
Uusorg and Soll received first prize from the hands of visiting U.S.
basketball legend Dennis Rodman, who declined to compete, saying he
lacked both a wife and proper training.
"I'm not in shape ... It could hurt the back," said the former Chicago
Bulls and Detroit Pistons forward. But he promised to train for next
year.
"I'll carry the kids around the house or something," he said.
Some 9,000 people came to view the event, set deep in forests and
lakes a couple of hours' drive from the Arctic Circle. It began in
1992 as a purely Finnish contest based on local legend, according to
which wife-stealing was once commonplace in the region. "
(Talk about a distraction.)
)
