The North American Wife Carrying Championship took place in Maine, USA on Saturday and saw dozens of couples take part in the bizarre race.<br /><br />Held at Sunday River Resort in Maine since 1999, the race involves men carrying a female competitor around a course which includes fallen logs and ditches full of water.<br /><br />Jake and Kirsten Barney, from Lexington, Virginia, finished first and won five times Kirsten Barney’s weight in cash — or 630 US dollars — and 12 cases of beer.<br /><br />The event is based on the Finland legend of “Ronkainen the Robber,” whose gang pillaged villages and took the women.<br /><br />Nowadays the men usually carry women, but they don’t have to be married and the couple can choose who carries whom.
