Carried Away

Two centuries ago, Ronkainen the Robber tested new gang recruits by making them carry a woman over an obstacle course to show that they could carry their loot — they often stole wives from other tribes. But in modern Sonkajarvi, Finland, it’s known as the Finnish National Wife-Carrying Championships. The goal: carry a woman, preferably someone else’s wife (and she must be older than 17) over a 780-foot course through water, sand, grass and asphalt, and over two fences. Dropping the wife results in a 15-second penalty. The fastest man earns the big prize: the woman’s weight in lemonade. “We Finns can be mad without alcohol, too, you know,” said one local, attempting to explain the prize — beer was ruled illegal. “This is very, very Finnish,” agreed a Swedish woman who was carried in the race. “They wouldn’t do this in Sweden.” (Reuters) ...What, the race, or the prize?