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For 24 years, the top wife carriers (and their wives) have descended upon Sunday River Resort in Newry, Maine for the North American Wife Carrying Championship to show off their unique skillset and determine who is the best of the best.
2024 was no exception as more than 30 couples competed, trying to conquer the grueling 278 yard course and come away with the top prize.
Of course, that top prize involves beer. The winning wife’s weight in beer to be precise. They also take home five times the wife’s weight in cash.
According to Sunday River, “The legend behind the North American Wife Carrying Championship is based on 19th century Finnish legend ‘Ronkainen the Robber’ who had high qualifications for the men he accepted into his band. To prove their worth, men had to compete through a difficult course with a heavy sack (or woman grabbed from neighboring villages) on their back.”
The rules are simple. Teammates are not actually required to be legally married. Course design includes two dry obstacles and one water obstacle, however the specific obstacle designs may vary by year.
If you drop your wife, that’s a five-second penalty.
There is no restriction on how the wife is carried.
In the just-completed 2024 North American Wife Carrying Championship, the winners were Justine and Caleb Roesler with a time of 1:04, making it the third year in a row the Wisconsinites have taken home the crown. Dare we officially call them a dynasty?
“We come each year for the fun. There is really a low chance of us winning. Pretty much everybody cheers everybody on and it’s a blast,” said Wade Porterfield of Cuba, New York, who competed with his wife, Sara.