It takes a brave woman to let her husband carry her around an obstacle course, but it takes an even braver husband to try.
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That bravery will be put to the test at the Cowra Show’s Wife Carrying competition.
Steward Pat Cleary said the Wife Carrying competition was just one of many events that would keep show attendees entertained.
“The Wife Carrying competition was an idea I got because I heard it was done at the Moruya Show and thought now there’s an idea for a bit of entertainment,” he said.
“It links into a whole two days of entertainment.
“When you look at the Sports Shear, the Woodchoop, the Rodeo, the Demolition Derby and the Wife Carrying, it should be the biggest event in Cowra for the past twelve months,” he said.
Mr Cleary said he was looking forward to the competition and might have a few teams who would be lined up to have a go.
“It should be a fun event so we need competitors who are willing to go into it,” he said.
“Adam Besedic is sponsoring it and it’s $200 for first past the post, $100 for second and it will be ran over a 250 metre obstacle course with seven obstacles, things like sand-pits, tyre runs, a hay bale, seesaw, hurdle or limbo bar.
“Team members aren’t required to be married and the “husband” can carry the wife anyway he likes but it’s usually upside down, she puts her legs crossed around his neck and hangs on.
“The minimum weight the “wife” has to be is 50kgs, if the wife isn’t 50kgs then she needs to carry a little bit of lead weight to get her up to 50kgs.
“She also has to wear a helmet in case she gets dropped but we don’t want to see that happen,” he said.
Other special rules for the Wife Carrying competition include:
- A 10 second time penalty will be incurred if the wife is dropped or any part of her touches the ground at any time throughout the course.
- If the husband drops the wife, he has to lift her onto his back again or in his arms and continue carrying. The husband cannot move forward at any point on the course with out the wife being carried.
- The wife must be carried across the finish line. Time recording stops when both competitors are completely over the finish line.
- The team that completes the course in the fasted time, including penalties will be eligible for first prize. No heats are run.
Full competition rules can be found at https://www.cowrashow.com/spring-show-schedules and clicking on the Wife Carrying tab.
