A ­wife-carrying contest is actually a lot like it sounds. Men, carrying wives, race through an obstacle course that includes sand, water and fences. The prize for winning the race is the wife’s weight in beer. It’s really all very civilized.

The Wife Carrying World Championships are hosted each July in the Finnish town of Sonkajärven. The contest’s popularity has inspired similar events in the United States, Australia, Ireland and even China, among others. Some contests — like the North American Wife Carrying Championships — award money to winners to pay for travel expenses to compete in the big leagues — Finland. Even celebrity and former U.S. NBA basketball star Dennis Rodman competed at Sonkajärven — although he only ran the last 100 meters of the course, claiming he wasn’t prepared for such a grueling contest.

You’ll find wife-carrying contests all over the globe, but the Finnish competition is the mother race. In 2008, 39 couples competed, and historically, the competition has included Finnish, Japanese, Chinese, Irish, American, Australian, English, Kenyan, Swedish, German, and Estonian competitors [source: Sonkajärvi]. Two Estonians — Margo Uusorg and Birgit Ulricht — share the wife-carrying world record of 55.5 seconds.