One ran and jumped, the other hung on – as they raced to victory in Lac La Biche.
Joel and Alysha Jackson are the winners of the second-annual Alberta Wife Carrying Championships.
The Edmonton couple and12 other local and out-of-area teams participated in the fun-filled, crowd-pleasing event, held on the Lac La Biche Agricultural Society grounds on Saturday, July 13 as part of the Lakeland Country Fair.
The Jacksons – whose winning time to cover the 278-yard outdoor obstacle course – was one minute and 15.47 seconds – won $670 along with 15 dozen beer, four Edmonton Riverhawks tickets, as well as T-shirts showing that they had competed in the Alberta Wife Carrying Championships.
So, how. does it feel to emerge as the victors in the only sanctioned wife carrying race in Canada?
“It feels good,” Alysha told Lakeland This Week. “I think maybe there’s a little competitive nature in both of us, so I think we had a first-place goal in mind.”
The 2024 championships weren't the Jacksons first foray into the wild and exciting world of wife carrying. They were one of the teams who came to Lac La Biche last year for the first running of the event. They finished third, just a second behind the second-place team.
Coming in at third place motivated the couple to come back and strive for a better result this year, said Joel. In preparation for their return this year, the couple decided to practice more, using the green-space outside of their Edmonton home.
The ‘Estonian’ method
They also changed their carrying style in a bid to give them an edge over their competitors, going from piggy-back to what is known as the Estonian Carry – where the wife hangs upside-down with her chest on her hubby's back and her legs around his shoulders. She can wrap her arms around his waist, or hold onto a belt, while his arms are free to push past obstacles or wave to the fans along the sidelines.
Joel says the new carry-style made things quite a bit easier – and quicker – as it enabled him to use his arms when he ran through the course that was made up of climb-over obstacles and water holes.
Using the "Estonian Carry" method, Alysha Jackson clings to hubby Joel during their recent winning run at the Alberta Wife Carrying Championships. In their version of the Estonian Carry, Alysha provides the 'leg blinders' to keep Joel's eyes focused ahead. The couple are the 2024 Alberta Wife Carrying Champions after winning the event during the Lakeland Country Fair in Lac La Biche over the July 12 weekend. File image - Lac La Biche POST
Regarding how the couple got interested in wife carrying, as Alysha explains, her mother saw an advertisement for the event and sent it onto her as “kind of as a joke,” thinking they might not sign up.
“I think we surprised her, and we did register,” Alysha said with a laugh, “and we had lots of fun.”
The couple, who visit the Lac La Biche region every summer, were camping with their two sons, Bodhi and Miller, during the Lakeland Country Fair weekend.
As the winners of the Alberta championships, the Jacksons also earn free entry to the North American finals that are taking place this fall at the Sunday River Resort in Maine. When asked if they would be heading south of the border to compete against some of the top wife carrying teams in North America, Alysha said that depends on their schedules.
According to the North American Wife Carrying Championships website, the fastest racers at the most recent North American championships recorded a couple-scurrying time of just 55 seconds to clear the course.
Whether they take their title to a larger event, or just keep it provincial, Joel says the event is great fun.
“It’s kind of an interesting event,” he said with a smile, adding that he works out regularly to keep himself in shape. “The fact that you’re carrying an extra 130 pounds with you makes it pretty difficult.”
Carrying away the 130 pounds of beer that came with being crowned the top team, however, was an easier lift – and it gets lighter every day. Joel says they will either host a party at home or bring it with them when they go to friends’ houses.
And when the beer is all gone, will the Jacksons return to defend their title next year?
“If we’re here for it, we’ll definitely come back in,” Joel said.
The team of Lac La Biche’s Jamie Toutant and Corbin Ockerman from Elk Point finished this year’s race with a time one minute and 21.07 seconds, while the third-place winners were Julia Schaub and Caleb Thompson, with a time of one minute and 31.78 seconds.
History and future
The “sport” of wife-carrying is a global event, with regional championships taking place in several countries including Spain, Lithuania, and France. The world championships are held each year in Finland – where the contest began under a back-story steeped in regional folklore. in a Finnish event program from the most recent World Wife Carrying Championships, a Nordic Robin Hood-type of scallywag the 1800s called "Ronkainen the Robber" would hold training camps for his gang to see if bad guys were tough enough to rob, pillage and run away by making them complete a long obstacle course carrying a heavy sack ... or a woman they had taken from a nearby town.
Local organizers at the Lac La Biche Agricultural Society say this year’s event was another success with fans along the sidelines cheering on the racers. Again, with pro rodeo announcer Garry Gross doing live commentary, the races were a highlight of the weekend, says society member Aurel Langevin.
With the local advertising reaching a wider regional audience this year, he’s hoping to see even more teams competing and enjoying the Lac La Biche region in next year’s Alberta championship.
• With files from ROB MCKINLEY
