When Mary Hayward began trash-talking her friends about wife carrying, she had little knowledge of the sport.
She and her husband Isaac competed a few years ago, but they did not train for the grueling competition this year, which takes place on July 4th in Ranchester.
Wife carrying is just that: the husband carries his wife on his back through an obstacle course.
The Haywards — Isaac, an emergency room physician, and Mary, a teacher — went on to win, qualifying for the North American Wife Carrying Championships in 1 minute and 16 seconds, beating their friends by a single second in the 278-yard race.
“I have four other siblings, so I have mastered my trash talk,” Mary told me. “And yes, I kept saying that we were going to kill them.”
Her husband Isaac witnessed the psychological warfare firsthand as Mary teased a group of friends who all exercise at the Sheridan YMCA, including eventual second-place finishers Gene Leath and Katie Taylor.
“My wife, she is really good at getting people to do fun or crazy stuff,” Isaac exclaimed. “She was taunting Gene, saying he was all talk about being fit and doing fun stuff.”
The strategy worked flawlessly, but the victory margin was razor thin.
Carried Interest
Wife-carrying events began in Finland, on rough terrain with fences, rocks, and streams.
The standard course has been modified to better suit the local conditions. In Ranchester, the track has two hurdles: a soft sand obstacle and a water obstacle that resembles a mud bog.
Before the race, Isaac and Mary practiced “for about a minute” the Estonian carry method, in which the wife hangs upside down with her head by the husband’s back and legs around his neck, according to Mary.
Apparently, it paid off
“I was a better rider, apparently,” she said, referring to how her friend Taylor struggled with positioning throughout the race.
Leath, a civil engineer and backcountry outfitter from Sheridan, said the loss hurt because he felt physically ready for the challenge.
As an outfitter, he’s used to carrying 120-pound packs and 90 pounds of field-dressed elk meat across the backcountry.
However, he discovered that wife carrying has its own set of challenges. The husband may feel strangled by the wife’s legs at times, and the wife must endure a bumpy ride as her thighs bounce off her husband’s shoulders while he runs.
“I was joking, ‘Usually I have permission to hunt where I’m hunting, so I don’t have to sprint to get out,'” Leath laughed, recalling how he almost didn’t cross the finish line.
Laughter and tears
The race started well for the Leath-Taylor team.
Ranchester Mayor Peter Clark summoned Leath and Taylor to the starting line, where they will race alongside another couple.
“Next couples, mount your wives,” Clark said as both couples took the Estonian racing position.
“The first half felt pretty good,” Leath remarked. “Then my wife became extremely sore, and I felt as if I were abducting her for the remainder of the race. It felt like she wasn’t a willing participant anymore, and she was trying to get away from me while I was running.”
“She went from giggling to crying while I was running,” Leath said of Taylor, who weighs about 118 pounds and struggled with the final stretch of the course, which winds behind Ranchester Town Hall and includes a mud bog.
The dramatic finish came down to the last 30 yards.
“I could feel it and thought, ‘My legs are going out, I’m going down.'” “Let’s just make it across the finish line,” Leath stated. “I go headfirst over the finish line basically because my legs just completely gave out.”
Local Origins
The Ranchester event has been going strong since the mayor’s son, Philip, brought the concept to Wyoming after competing elsewhere.
Barbara Brackeen-Kepley, the town clerk-treasurer, said the competition has been held annually since 2014, with this year’s field of seven couples representing a typical turnout.
The competition was originally held at Connor State Park, but was relocated to the town hall grounds in recent years due to flooding concerns.
The course adheres to official specifications, with two hurdles, a soft sand obstacle, and a water obstacle designed to mimic the rough Finnish terrain where the sport originated.
Brackeen-Kepley speaks from experience about the unusual combination of physical strength and spousal trust required for the sport. She and her husband competed a few years back and finished second.
“It was a good bonding experience for sure,” she told me. “He did not drop me on my head, so that was great.”
The only equipment allowed during competition is a belt worn by the carrier to provide something for the partner to grasp. “Helmets are optional.”
Champion Stakes
The stakes go far beyond local bragging rights.
The Haywards’ victory qualifies them for the North American Championships, which will be held on October 11 at Sunday River Resort in Maine. There, they will compete against seasoned athletes who have refined their techniques over multiple seasons.
At the North American Championships, the water feature is dubbed “The Widowmaker,” and the unique prize structure adds another strategic element: winners receive their wife’s weight in beer, making lighter partners potentially more valuable for speed while heavier partners offer greater liquid rewards.
Jesse Wall, a two-time North American champion, emphasized that winning is about more than just physical strength.
“The ‘wife’ is in charge of winning more often than the guys,” Wall stated in a Sunday River Resort press release. “A horse is only as good as its rider.”
Wyoming’s competition coincided with the World Championships in Sonkajarvi, Finland, which made history on July 5.
Caleb and Justine Roesler of Waukesha, Wisconsin, became the first American couple to win the world title, setting a new course record of 1:01.17.
To put the Wyoming times into context, the winning time in Ranchester would have ranked just outside the top ten in Finland, where 75 couples from 17 countries competed.
The gap demonstrates both the international level of competition and the potential for expansion in American wife carrying.
Historical Roots
The sport’s origins can be traced back to the legend of Herkko “Robber” Ronkainen, a Finnish bandit who required potential gang members to demonstrate their strength by carrying sacks of grain—and sometimes women—across rough terrain.
What began as a test of bandit worthiness has grown into a popular international sport that combines athletic prowess with good-natured absurdity.
The Ranchester rules state that teammates do not have to be legally married, but they must be at least 21 years old, and the cardinal rule that “all participants must have fun” will be followed.
As Wyoming champions, the Haywards bear the responsibility of serving as athletic role models.
“If they win nationals, they get to go to Finland,” explained Brackeen-Kepley.
Also, there will be plenty of free beer. Isaac estimates Mary weighs about 130 pounds.
“I would definitely train just to win that much beer,” Isaac admitted. “There’s a lot of beer. I would be delighted to receive 130 pounds of beer.”
