- Sonkajärvi
Sonkajärvi is a municipality of
Finland .It is located in the province of
Eastern Finland and is part of theNorthern Savonia region. The municipality has a population of 4,951 (2005 ) and covers an area of 1,576.77 km² of which 104.11 km² is water. Thepopulation density is 3.4 inhabitants per km².The municipality is unilingually Finnish.
Sonkajärvi has gained a woldwide name for
Wife Carrying (Finnish akankanto or eukonkanto) which is a sport of carrying women. The first Wife Carrying World Championship dates to 1994, but the creation of the contest, apart from its humorous aspects, has deep roots in the local history. In the late 1800’s there was in the area a brigand called Rosvo-Ronkainen, who is said to have accepted in his troops only those men who proved their worth on a challenging track. In those days, it was also a common practice to steal women from the neighbouring villages.In the Wife Carrying competition each team has one male and one female member, the objective being for the male to carry the female through a special obstacle track. The basic rules are that the woman must be over 17 years of age and have a weight of at least 49 kilograms. If she is below that weight, she must be burdened with such a heavy rucksack that the total weight to be carried by the man is 49 kilograms. The only equipment allowed is a belt worn by the carrier. The track in Sonkanjärvi used annually for the World Championship has a length of exactely 253.5 meters.
The winning couple in the 2008 edition of the World Championship have been Inga Klauson and Madis Uusorg, from Estonia.
* [http://www.sonkajarvi.fi/ Sonkajärvi Finnish-language site]
* [http://www.sonkajarvi.fi/?deptid=15226 Wife Carrying Championship 2008]
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