WIFE CARRYIING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS in Sonkajärvi, Finland on 4th of July 2009

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The team competition won by the Estonians

THE WIFE CARRYING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS’ VICTORY FINALLY TO FINLAND

The 14^th wife carrying world championships in Sonkajärvi was finally won by a Finn after 11 years’ break. Taisto Miettinen from Espoo with her partner Kristina Haapanen from Helsinki took the victory with a half a second gap from last years’ winners Alar Voogla and Kristi Viltrop from Estonia.

    The long waited victory wasn’t a surprise but after the results were officially confirmed Miettinen and Haapanen’s celebration made also the audience wild and cheering for the winning couple. Miettinen has been chasing the 1^st position for then years so in many ways winning was a dream come true. Haapanen has taken part three times and as she’s into sports she was in a good shape for being carried.

“A couple of times I’ve practically been offered the victory, the time gap was 0,1 seconds one year and once I fell down just before the finish line. You have no idea how good this feels now”, tells a sportsman Miettinen.

The silver medallists and nowadays engaged Voogla and Viltrop were happy with their second position.

“I wasn’t our day, it was really cold and that slowed us down. Then again, it wasn’t the worst run either so were happy with the results, says Voogla.

The third medal also went to Finns, Heikki Hannukainen and Heini Rauhamaa who are from Espoo. The next two positions were also taken by Finns and the North American champions Ri Fahnestock Sarah Silverberg were 6^th.

    Wife Carrying has a growing circle of friends abroad. The four time Australian champion Anthony Partridge and a Cath Whalan who’s won twice came to Finland with eight other aussies, family and friends. The cold weather surprised them a little bit, which slowed down also the Australian champion. Even though it’s a tough race, Anthony told he’d love to come back and win.

The Estonian team Sõbrad took their own

The team competition has also been dominated by the Estonians for several years. Sõbrad, the champions for several years won also this year and they were followed by the Finnish Sonkarun, who lost by six seconds.

    This year Sõbrad was Mauri Zahkna, Alar Voogla and Renno Remmel and they carried Merlin Linnusaar. The last two took the gold in the sprint competition on Friday. The victory wasn’t a surprise for the successful team but the half a litre sparkling water was harder than before and they were worried about losing to the local Sonkajärvi team because of that.

    The silver medallists were Joni Juntunen, Toni Hynynen and Mika Suomalainen who carried Jaana Haavikko. The team was happy with thhe 2nd position.

”The start went well and the water obstacle too. The drinking part was difficult”, said Juntunen. The bronze went to the Irish team, which surprised also the team members. They were far behind the first two teams.

The 14^th wife carrying championships were held on a cloudy and cold weather but the audience didn’t mind. The atmosphere was great and joyful. The number of spectators was about the same thank year before in spite of the showers and chilly weather.

INFORMATION
Eukonkanto konttuuri (The Wife Carrying Office),
e-mail: eukonkanto@sonkajarvi.fi
www.sonkajarvi.fi, www.eukonkanto.fi

Co-operation partners and interviews:
Veikko Tervonen, v.tervonen@dnainternet.net
tel. +358 (0)440 278 110       

Press centre (during the event):
No interviews before the event
Hannu Keränen
tel:  +358440762161       
hannu.keranen@meili.fi

RESULTS

WIFE CARRYING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2009

THE TEAM COMPETITION