The Wife Carrying World Championship happens every July in the Finnish town of Sonkajarvi (pop. 5800).

Competitors, always male carrying female, run 250m over log hurdles, through sand, asphalt and a neck-high pool of freezing water.

'People just want the experience of being carried by a strong man or of carrying a slender or not so slender wife', says Mikko Haggren, Sonkajarvi's cultural mouthpiece. Best of all, the 'wife' need not be formally recognised – just female and over 17 years old.

Finland has long been one of Europe's more eccentric countries. Depression and alcoholism is rife during the long dark winter months. The people are quiet on first meeting, but get them talking and you'll find them sensitive, generous and kind.

Finland is also one of the most technologically advanced European countries: it's rare to find anyone without a mobile, and paying for a coffee via a text message from your phone to the café is the norm.

This year's wife carrying winners, Estonians Margo Uusorg and wife Birgit Ulrich, took first prize with a breakneck run of 69 seconds – four seconds short of the 1993 world record. Not only did they win a whopping 44 kg of beer (Birgit's weight) but they also wowed the 7000 strong audience with their new technique. Traditional styles are piggyback or over the shoulder, but Birgit was carried upside down and over Margo's back. Luckily he didn't drop her – there's a 15 second penalty for that.

If carrying the wife is not your cup of char then how about the less energetic World Air Guitar Competition, for which the prize is a real guitar (how very droll).

— Saeeda Khanum, 30.8.2000