Dorking, Surrey. Sunday 16th March 2014. The 7th UK Wife Carrying Race takes place at The Nower Dorking. Image shows the start of the race with No 7 race winner, Rich Blake Smith out in front and carrying 55kg Anna Credit: Photo by Lindsay Constable/ Alamy Live News
2014 Race competitors come from the UK, Germany, Lithuania and Belgium and the race is run over a course of 380m, with 15m of ascent and 15m of descent. Wife carrying may have originated in the UK over twelve centuries ago, on 8 June 793AD, when Viking raiders rampaged into Lindisfarne on the northeast coast of what is now England, destroying the monastery and most likely carrying off any unwilling local wenches. Such wife carrying continued intermittently for around 300 years. Wife Carrying was re-introduced into the UK by the UK Wife Carrying Race in 2008, after an absence from these shores of nearly 900 years.
Size: 4416px × 2947px
Location: The Nower, Dorking, Surrey UK
Photo credit: © Lindsay Constable / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 7th, carrying, dorking, nower, race, wife
