1992 cross-country Olympian Farra wins wife-carrying title

John Farra, a former Olympic cross-country skier, won the seventh North American Wife Carrying Championship on Saturday.

NEWRY, Maine — John Farra, a former Olympic cross-country skier, won the seventh North American Wife Carrying Championship on Saturday.

He hoisted his 110-pound wife, Tess, along a 278-yard course that featured a water trough and log hurdles in 1 minute, 4 seconds. They won her weight in beer plus $550, five times her weight in cash.

They are eligible for a $1,000 reimbursement toward a trip in July to the world championships in Finland.

Farra, who competed in cross-country ski races at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France, trained by running uphill with 80 pounds of mortar mix in a backpack.

Daniel Brown and Janel Worcester followed, about 10 seconds behind, in the field of 27 couples. Other prizes included the wife's weight in soda and granola bars.

Several hundred spectators turned out for the competition at the Sunday River ski resort during the height of western Maine's fall foliage season.

— The Associated Press