A ‘wife carrying’ competition exists complete with mud run and obstacle course

A ‘wife carrying’ competition exists and has gone viral on TikTok

Wife-carrying is a contest in which male competitors race while each carrying a female teammate. The objective is for the male to carry the female through a special obstacle track at the fastest time.

Several types of carrying may be used in the competition, including a classic piggyback, a fireman’s carry (over the shoulder), or Estonian-style (whereby the wife is upside-down on his back with her legs over the neck and shoulders).

The sport was first introduced in Sonkajärvi, Finland and the original course was reportedly a rough, rocky terrain with fences and brooks, but it has been altered in the present day to suit modern conditions.

Today, the course involves sand instead of full rocks, fences, and some kind of area filled with water, according to the Scholarly Community Encyclopedia.

Some of the wife-carrying competitions include a prize of beer, weighing the same size as the wife, rewarded to the winner.

The amount of beer the winner receives is determined not by a scale but by putting beer on one end of a see-saw/teeter-totter and the female (wife) on the other end, until it balances evenly, as per Frederick South Dakota reports.

Clips of the competition have been shared on social media by a meme TikTok page named @memesenseii. The footage has caught the attention of many viewers confused by this unusual sport.

The viral video has currently reached over 16 million views, more than one million likes, and a comment section full of shock and humor.

‘Wife carrying’ competition originated in Finland

Wife-carrying, also known as Eukonkanto in Finnish, originated in Finland. Tales have been passed down of a man named Herkko Rosvo-Ronkainen who was considered a robber in the late 1800s, lived in a forest, and ran around with his gang of thieves causing harm to the villages.

From what has been discovered in the past, there are three ideas as to why/how this wife-carrying sport was invented.

Firstly, that the robber and his thieves were accused of stealing food and women from villages in the area he lived in, then carrying these women on their backs as they ran away.

Another suggestion for the sport’s origin is that young men would go to neighbouring villages, steal other men’s wives to marry themselves. These wives were also carried on the backs of the young men.

Lastly, is the idea that Rosvo-Ronkainen trained his thieves to be “faster and stronger” by carrying big, heavy sacks on their backs, from which evolved this sport.

Though the sport is often considered a joke, competitors seem to take it very seriously.

Wife-carrying contests have reportedly taken place in Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Australia, the United States, Hong Kong, India, Germany, the United Kingdom, and other parts of the world.

The unusual sport also has a category in the Guinness Book of Records.

In the comment section of the popular TikTok video showing the wife-carrying sport, many viewers joke about the wild positions the competitors have to stay in for the duration of the race.

A TikTok user named @D1_Jay jokingly wondered: If bro farts, it’s over.”

Many viewers, such as @King Garfield, used the modern slang term ‘gyat’ in their funny comments: “My man just GYAT to get that beer.”

@Kaleigh considered how it must feel to be the wife: “No because imagine having to hold your self while your husband is doing all this.”

Another user named @Nikos joked that the husbands must act like they’re chasing the feet of their wives: “Bro chased them toes for real.”

@Sabortage joked that the winner just really wanted a drink: “Brother really wanted beer.”

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