{"id":795,"date":"2009-07-06T15:22:19","date_gmt":"2009-07-06T14:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.weddingdates.ie\/blog\/?p=795"},"modified":"2021-03-04T14:52:04","modified_gmt":"2021-03-04T14:52:04","slug":"world-wife-carrying-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/weddingdates.ie\/blog\/world-wife-carrying-champions\/","title":{"rendered":"World Wife Carrying Champions!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, we’re back in one piece today after the craziness of Finland and happy to report, loaded down with prizes!!\u00a0 James and I scooped “Most Entertaining Couple” in the main race despite coming 35th out of 35 with a time of 2:22.\u00a0 We also made up half of the Team who are now ranked #3 in the world for the Wife Carrying Relay Race – I was the baton!\u00a0 I was ably carried by Gerard O’Shea (Caherdaniel, Kerry), Vincent O’SUllivan (Waterville, Co, Kerry) and James Kennedy (Blackrock, Cork)<\/p>\n

Roll on next year – back to Sonkajarvi, Finland to defend our titles!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

**\u00a0 PRESS RELEASE\u00a0 **<\/strong><\/p>\n

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
\n6 July, 2009<\/p>\n

CONTACT:
\nCiara Crossan
\nWeddingDates.ie
\nT: 021-4928993
\nM: 087-9577733
\nEmail: ciara@weddingdates.ie
\n
\nSHE AIN\u2019T HEAVY, SHE\u2019S MY WIFE!<\/strong>
\nIrish Team Storms World Wife Carrying Championships in Finland<\/p>\n

Ireland have swept the board at the World Wife Carrying Championships in Finland this weekend, winning prizes in 2 out of the 3 races.<\/p>\n

Part of the Irish contingent consisted of Ciara Crossan and James Kennedy who won \u201cMost Entertaining Couple\u201d for their hilarious race around the track which saw James swan-dive into the 1 meter deep water obstacle and a cheeky shortcut to the Finish Line.\u00a0 Which had the crows in rapturous applause, chanting \u201cOle, ole, ole!\u201d<\/p>\n

Crossan, who runs Irish website www.weddingdates.ie<\/a> was delighted to be in Finland for the event saying, \u201cThe Finns have a great sense of humour and really know how to entertain the international audience.\u00a0 The ethos of www.WeddingDates.ie<\/a> is all about enjoying your wedding and not letting the planning stress you out and what better way to do that than to take part in a bit of wife-carrying?!\u201d<\/p>\n

Her partner James Kennedy was impressed by the hospitality of the Finnish saying \u201c I have never felt more welcome in a place before \u2013 we will definitely be back next year to defend our title and enjoy more of the Finnish warmth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nCiara and James were also part of the relay team who are now ranked # 3 in the World with their team-mates Vincent O\u2019Sullivan (Waterville, Co. Kerry) and Gerard O\u2019Shea (Caherdaniel, Co, Kerry).\u00a0 The relay was run on the same course as the main event (250 meter course, 2 dry hurdle obstacles and 1 water obstacle) but required the \u201cwife\u201d to be the baton, being passed between the three \u201chusbands\u201d.\u00a0 During the handover the runners had to down a bottle of special \u201cwife carrying brew\u201d.\u00a0 Gerard O\u2019Shea, commented after the race: \u201cIt was the Irish drinking culture that swung it for us in the end \u2013 we had no problem in downing that drink!\u201d<\/p>\n

Last years Irish Champions at the First Annual Irish Wife Carrying Competition held at the Sneem Festival, won an all expenses paid trip to Finland and the Irish duo came in a very respectable 8th place with a time of 1 minute 13 seconds (8\/35).\u00a0 The Kerry couple would have been in the top spots, but lost out due to a stumble right at the finish line which added a 5 second penalty.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Aoife Desmond and John O’Shea from Caherdaniel, Co. Kerry commented \u201cnow we know the track and the level of the competition we\u2019ll be better prepared next year.\u201d\u00a0 The top prize of the Wife\u2019s Weight in Beer was won by a Finnish couple who have been vying for the title for 12 years.\u00a0 Their time was an impressive 1 minute 2 seconds.
\nAll 6 of the Irish competitors are determined to return next year to defend their title.\u00a0 Sneem Co. Kerry is the home of Irish Wife Carrying and anyone interested in taking part in what has to be one of the most unusual world-sporting events can try their luck against the Irish champs at the Sneem Family Festival on July 25th.\u00a0 Check out www.sneemfestival.com for more details.
\n# # #<\/p>\n

Note to Editors: WeddingDates.ie [ https:\/\/www.weddingdates.ie<\/a> ] is an Irish website that helps engaged couples search for wedding reception venues available on their chosen wedding date.\u00a0 WeddingDates.ie proudly supported the Irish Wife Carrying Team in Finland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Well, we’re back in one piece today after the craziness of Finland and happy to report, loaded down with prizes!!\u00a0 James and I scooped “Most Entertaining Couple” in the main race despite coming 35th out of 35 with a time of 2:22.\u00a0 We also made up half of the Team who are now ranked #3 in the world for the Wife Carrying Relay Race – I was the baton!\u00a0 I was ably carried by Gerard O’Shea (Caherdaniel, Kerry), Vincent O’SUllivan […]","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[61],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weddingdates-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/weddingdates.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/weddingdates.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/weddingdates.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weddingdates.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weddingdates.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/weddingdates.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81742,"href":"https:\/\/weddingdates.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795\/revisions\/81742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/weddingdates.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weddingdates.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/weddingdates.ie\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}