A Maine couple won the 11th annual North American Wife Carrying Championship on Saturday at Sunday River Ski Resort in Newry.
Rocco Andreozzi of Bethel and Kim Wasco of Farmington came in first place and won prizes including $762 in cash — six times Wasco’s weight of 127 pounds, according to resort officials.
With a winning time of 1 minute 1.91 seconds, Andreozzi and Wasco beat second-place finishers Jesse Wall of South Paris and Christine Arsenault of Portland by 16.86 seconds. Wall and Arsenault finished the championship heat in 1 minute 18.77 seconds. Their time in an earlier elimination round was 1 minute 2.66 seconds.
Saturday’s victory qualifies Andreozzi and Wasco for the World Wife Carrying Championship to be held in July in Finland, where the contest originated in the 18th century.
The event drew 50 couples from all over the United States and Canada. Competitors included Markus Raty and Joline Matika, both of Toronto, who won the Canadian Wife Carrying Championship in 2003-2005.
Couples navigated a 278-yard obstacle course that included hurdles and a water trap known as “the widow maker.” They don’t have to be married, but they must be comprised of a man and a woman, both over age 21.
Eliminated in one of the earlier races were Jesse and Stacey Coleman of Gorham, who came in eighth place overall with a time of 1 minute 11.89 seconds.
“We did a great job,” Stacey Coleman said Saturday evening. “We were definitely ready. What we weren’t ready for was how cold it was. It was in the 40s and the wind was whipping. Getting wet and being cold, it was tough.”
The Colemans trained hard for the event and rallied fans to support their effort in the weeks leading up the competition through a blog, my-fit-family.com. If they had won, the Colemans planned to donate their winnings to Maine Handicapped Skiing, a year-round recreational program that teaches adaptive sports activities to people with physical disabilities.
“We’re all about promoting family fitness,” said Coleman, who has two children, Bode, 6, and Zoe, 4.
After the race, the Colemans were interviewed and filmed re-enacting their racing skills by Bert the Conqueror for his show on the Travel Channel. Coleman said it’s expected to air in April.
Staff Writer Kelley Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6328 or at:
kbouchard@pressherald.com
Send questions/comments to the editors.
