What's up everybody we're Marko and Alex the Vagabrothers, and these legs belong to our new Finnish wives. "Hello!"
That's because right now we're at one of the world's wackiest sporting event ; the Finnish Wife-Carrying World Championship
Let's do it!
The wife-carrying world championship is one of the most bizarre sporting events in the world.
You take your wife, sling her over your shoulder, and complete a 250 meter obstacle course for the chance
to win your wife's weight in beer.
Supposedly, it began in the 1800s when the legendary Finnish robber Ronkainen and his band of thieves would
steal food and women from neighboring villages
barebacking the booty through the Finnish
forest to become their wives. In modern times
wife carrying has become an annual
competition
in Sonkajärvi, Finland,
one that was so weird, we knew
we had to take part. But there was one problem,
we didn't have wives
so, being 21st century romantics,
we crowded-sourced them, making a video
on You Tube that said this:
So, ladies of Finland
Will you marry us? If just for one day?
A couple days later, a message in our inbox
from Nelli and Anni,
two beautiful Finnish girls who offered
to be our human backpacks and our wives
for the day.
We started training in California
and even tried stealing someone's wife,
but things didn't quite go as well as planned.
You guys can't do this!! This is Los Angeles!!
With a pissed off husband on our tail,
we waived goodbye to America
and fled to Finland. We arrived
and realized we still had a lot of training to do
But, it was too little,
too late.
On the eve of the contest,
the only preparation we could do
was meet our wives
Our brand new wives, brides to be
the Wife Carrying Competition
Brand new. As if we had
old ones, I don't know.
We did our best to smooth over
the inevitable awkwardness of online marriage.
Hey
How's it going? Mark
Nice to meet you. Hello, hello
How are you girls? We're good. Doing well?
Say hello to everyone. Hi
So we just to break the ice the best way
we knew how: by shoving
our faces right between their thighs
This is the Estonian method.
Supposedly, it's the most efficient. We'll see.
Push it!
I think we're going to win.
Yeah, we're going to win.
High 5's all around.
Boom Boom
The morning of the race, we boarded the bus
to Sonkajärvi and asked our wives
what they had done to prepare for the race
Nothing. We just tried to eat
a little less so that we wouldn't weigh that much
and we hope our husbands
are not going to drop us.
We're trusting you
Down at the race, 60 couples from around the world
gathered at the starting line to weigh
their wives and scope out
the course
First up; a short jaunt
and then a jump in a chest-deep pool trudging
through water without drowning your wife
After that, an uphill sprint to a waist-high
log, a 50 meter dash
followed by another log, and
a final charge to the finish line.
We'd be competing in heats of three couples at a time,
some of them taking it super seriously
and others, not so much.
Alex was in the second heat, so we strapped the Go Pro
onto his head and wished him luck.
[Grunting]
[Heavy breathing]
I'm in first! I'm in first!
It's cold
Must...beat...
...Man with Afro...
Almost there
oh god....not this
*F...ing* thing again
That was insane
Oh my god...that is so much harder
than you think.
I seriously thought I was going to drown
My eyes were hurting,
but it was so fun.
Any advice for Anni?
Anni, you have to hold on tight! Yep
Meanwhile, the crowds
swelled, the temperature soared,
and competition grew fierce.
Some men triumphed.
Others... brought to their
knees, broken.
Mark was placed in the final round
for the last race of the day. One
with a funny twist. Ok. So we've just got some funny news.
We're actually going up against the world champion
Number 52
This dude's a beast, and he's won it a ton of times.
He's gone around the world as the ambassador for
Finnish wife carrying, and ah.....
well, there's that!
Yeah, well now I'm nervous
This is David versus Goliath.
Marko, one on one against
the world champion
Ayling, from the United States.
Shit! What have I gotten myself into?
It's a bit heavier than my backpack, but here goes
nothing. Go Bro!
Go! Go! Go!
Get your legs together
Tighten them up. Here we are.
Just hop over the hurdle
Oh! That's harder than it looks
Crap! He's already crossed the finish line
Forget him. Just make it to the end
without farting in Anni's face!
Hold it in. There we go
Now I can drop her on her head
How are you feeling tonight?
A little bit tired, you know, but we did our best
Definitely had some problems in the pool
almost drowned in the pool
but we made it out. I thought I was going to drown
literally the last person
to finish the race in the day, so I think we had
the crowd with us. David versus Goliath
well, you know, you'd do
what you could. Great job, Bro. Great job. Yeah
Well, we didn't finish first, nor did we get last.
We landed in the middle of the pack
Not too shabby for going up against the likes
of Finnish Thor and
and Hercules. From proposal
to marriage and divorce,
our love was short lived.
But we had
a great time with our temporary wives,
meeting some of the quirkiest couples on the planet
For now, the only things that we'll be carrying
are backpacks! At least until next year!
Well that was Finnish world Wife Carrying
Championship Super crazy
but really fun. Thank you Nellie and Annie
for volunteering to be our wives. if you like the video,
please give it a thumb's up, share it with friends,
and don't forget to subscribe to our channel
for new travel videos every Tuesday.
Bye