She ain't heavy, she's my wife

A husband and wife team from Ipswich are British champions but their sport won’t be in the 2012 Olympics. Tom and Kirsty Wilmot are the holders of the 5th UK Wife-Carrying Race and will compete for the world title in Finland in July. Following a weigh-in the wives are slung over their husband’s heads and ferried over a 250 metre course with bales of hay to hurdle over.

Spectators add hazards of their own by throwing buckets of water and spraying water pistols over competitors. The wives must weigh at least 50kg. If they don’t they have to be laden down with tins of baked beans until they do. The winner gets the weight of their wife in beer. The loser – a tin of dog food and a Pot Noodle. Tom , a science teacher, and Kirsty, a community development officer, are unusual in that they are actually married. Most competitors aren’t!

They have been practising in local parks in Ipswich to the astonishment of dog walkers and passers-by.