Monday, July 04, 2005
♫Tote That Barge, Lift That Bale
... and as the lyrics continue....♪you gets a little drunk and you lands in jail....♫Bird is back from Sonkajarvi, Finland, where he witnessed the annual wife carrying contest just south of the Arctic Circle.
Margo Uusorg sprinted home to win the Estonia's eighth straight title in the offbeat competition. Forty couples from 10 countries gathered in the remote Finnish village to complete a 253.5-meter-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. Some 9,000 people and one flamingo 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.
Bird was thrilled with the competition and will be organizing a similar event here at the World Headquarters next spring.
