Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe NEWRY, Maine, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Organizers of the North American Wife Carrying Championship in Maine said the winner will receive their wife's weight in beer and five times her weight in cash. The organizers announced the Oct. 11 competition at the Sunday River Resort in Newry will feature a 278-yard obstacle course and the fastest finisher will receive their wife's weight in beer and five times the woman's weight in cash as a prize. Advertisement The event will also offer prizes for the team with the greatest combined weight and the spousal pairing with the greatest combined age. The Wife Carrying Championship was inspired by 19th century outlaw Herkko Rosvo-Ronkainen, who legend holds would lead raids on towns in Finland and he and his henchmen would carry off women they chose as their brides. The legends inspired Sonkajarvi, Finland, to host the first Wife Carrying World Championships in 1992.
