Wife-Carrier Wins Her Weight in Beer
B E T H E L, Maine, July 17, 2000 -- A Virginia man and a New Hampshire woman took home six cases of beer after winning in the final round of the North American Wife Carrying Championship on Saturday.
John Suitor, of Middleburg, Va., and Gail Guy, of Portsmouth, N.H., both 33, joined dozens of contestants who carried their partners over wooden hurdles and through a waist-deep water pit in pursuit of the first-place prize: their wife’s weight in beer, compact discs, gourmet coffee or other items.
For their effort, the couple won Guy’s weight in Pepsi, doughnuts, heating oil, compact discs and beer. There’s also talk of sending them to Finland to compete in the world championships.
More than 40 couples participated Saturday in the “North American Wife Carrying Championship,” an event designed to raise money for a local arts council.
The origins of the contest date to 19th-century Finland, when a band of robbers forced new recruits to complete an obstacle course with a sack on their backs as training for stealing women from nearby villages.
An Unlicensed Rider
Teams in the 278-yard race were not required to be married, which was a good thing for Suitor — his wife begged off after 40 or 50 yards during a trial run less than a week before the event, having given birth to their second daughter four months ago.
Suitor and Guy won with a time of 1:16 during a final-round competition between the two teams with the best times, said Ryan Triffit, spokesman for the Sunday River ski resort, where the contest was held.
As difficult as it was, Suitor and Guy said they would do it all again next summer in Finland, where the world championship is being held.
“If we can find an airline willing to give us tickets, we’ll go,” Suitor said.
Spouses Not to Be Taken Lightly
As a flood of news reporters and photographers recorded the event, male participants quickly discovered that traversing a 279-yard obstacle course while carrying someone is hard work.
George Garnier, a Wal-Mart clerk from Tobyhana, Pa., hauled his fiancee about 30 yards before dropping her.
She climbed on again, and he struggled a few more steps before dropping her again. They quit the race. Garnier’s fiancee, Amanda Pilger, outweighed him by five pounds.
“It was my idea,” she said. “He said he could handle freight and everything. I thought he could handle me.”
The lesson: this was a race for big men and diminutive women.
The second-place winners, Paul Spacht and Melanie Markovitz of Bethel, are planning to be married soon. They were banking on a honeymoon in Finland.
They lost by six seconds.
Windfall? Maybe Next Year
The event was organized as a fund-raiser for the Mahoosuc Arts Council. Despite all the good press, the council had trouble getting corporate sponsors.
Companies like L.L. Bean turned down sponsorships because they said they sponsor only serious athletic events, said Paula Wheeler, the council’s development director. She said the council made only half its $5,000 goal.
If viewed in terms of publicity, the event was a big success, surpassing the hoopla when residents built a 113-foot snowman in 1999.
The snowman, described by residents as the world’s tallest, made national headlines but it didn’t compare to the wife-carrying contest.
ABCNEWS, BBC-TV from England, ESPN The Magazine, Inside Edition, Runner’s World, National Public Radio and local television stations were here. Sports Illustrated even sent a photographer.
Bethany Atherton of Portland, who was carried by her husband, Dennis, said she thought the idea seemed insulting to women when she first heard about it. She later decided it was all right because it was just for fun.
Deborah Downs, 52, of North Waterboro, who was carried by her 56-year-old husband, Jon Gale, said she wasn’t bothered by the race’s sexist overtones.
“It’s so politically incorrect it’s funny,” she said.