Objectives: To highlight a fun activity--the sport of wife carrying--and to investigate factors associated with better performance.
Design, setting and participants: Cross-sectional study based in Sonkajärvi, Finland (venue of the annual Wife Carrying World Championship race), of 172 couples participating in wife-carrying races, 1992-2010.
Main outcome measure: Race finishing time.
Results: The mean age for male participants was 32.6 (SD, 8.7) years and for female participants, 30.5 (SD, 9.2) years. The mean finishing time was 98 s. Finish times tended to be somewhat slower as the age of the male partner increased (P = 0.06), but not as the female partner's age increased (P = 0.89). Race experience was not associated with faster times (P = 0.88). Estonians were almost 12 s faster than other nationalities, although this was not statistically significant (P = 0.25), probably due to the small number of Estonians. Men who engaged in endurance-type physical activities as hobbies (P = 0.003), or in both endurance- and strength-building activities (P = 0.001), were significantly faster than those who did neither. Among women, strength-building (P = 0.03) but not endurance-type (P = 0.36) physical activities were significantly associated with faster race times.
Conclusions: Wife carrying can be a novel option for increasing physical activity levels, which improve health. Although some key data were unavailable, such as wife's body weight, and injury rates, this study identified several factors associated with better performance in this sport.