Wife Carrying Contest Rules

• The team completing the course in the fastest time wins the Carlsberg Cup and the Grand Prize of the Wife’s weight in beer.
• Teams will consist of two members, one “Wife” and one “Husband”. For the purpose of this contest, the Wife shall be the contestant being carried, and the Husband will be the contestant doing the carrying, regardless of the actual marital status or gender.
• Partners in the contest do not have to be married – as stated in the Wife Carrying Contest Official Rules -“a contestant may carry his own wife, his neighbour’s wife, or someone found ‘further afield’”.
• Both the contestants must be 18 years or older and must be of legal drinking age to claim the grand prize. Alcoholic prizes may not be consumed on the festival grounds.
• The wife must weigh a minimum of 100 lbs (45 kg). Wives that are too light will have to have an extra helping of Swedish meatballs or carry weights to meet the minimum requirement. In the case that an extra meal in the food tent does not bring the contestant to the minimum weight they will still have to carry weights.
• Dropping your wife or falling will incur a 10 second penalty in the contest, and perhaps additional penalties from your ‘wife” after the race.
• Husbands may carry their wives any way they choose, however it must be by their own power – no foreign object (like wheelbarrows or harnesses) will be allowed.
• Protests must be made within 5 minutes of the end of the contest. There will be a protest fee, and administration fee… as well as an inconvenience fee.
• All contestants must wear pants and a smile, and wives must wear a helmet. Other articles of clothing may be substituted for pants, but smiling and having fun are non-negotiable.
• Inflatable wives will be disqualified..