Ontario couple wins wife carrying event
Jen Otterson
Special to the Sun Journal

It was the United States versus Canada at Sunday River Ski Resort Saturday. Brandon Ronson and Jenny Aspden of Tillsonburg, Ontario out-ran, out-hurdled, and out-waded 14 couples from the U.S. to become the new North American Wife Carrying champions.

Well, Ronson ran, hurdled, and waded. Aspden just held on for dear life.

The two teens negotiated the 278-yard course in 1 minute, 30.9 seconds. The course begins on a gentle uphill, which becomes steeper and rockier before leveling out. A left turn brings competitors to the first hurdle, a three-foot high log. From there, the course gets slippier as it crosses a trickling stream.

Contestants must then run down a muddy embankment and wade 22 feet through a 3-foot deep trench. It’s all downhill from there, with only one log hurdle to cross before reaching the finish line.

Ronson and Aspden, “Team Canada,” were following in the footsteps of last year’s Canadian champs, Erin Moody and Zachery Smith, also of Tillsonburg. Moody and Smith finished ninth in last year’s North American Championships after falling in the water pit. This year, Team Canada finished dry.

The lifeguard at the water pit said that the water was actually deeper this year. “Last year was a little too easy, so we decided to put a little more depth in it.”

It wasn’t deep enough to stop Team Canada, though. Ronson explained that the water hazard on the Canadian course is lined, making it much slippier, though cleaner, than Sunday River’s muddy trench. Also, the log hurdles on the Canadian course are bigger.

Members of the teams support crew said that the pair has been training for about a month for this event. They built a log hurdle in the Ronsons’ backyard to practice on. Aspden’s mother said they’ve also been on strict diets. “Jenny’s not allowed to eat, and Brandon’s been buffing up.” At a recent fund-raiser for the team, Aspden had the kids’ meal and Ronson had a steak dinner.

The second-place team was Peter and Amber Small of Bangor, with a time of 1 minute, 34.8 seconds. The Smalls were the crowd favorite, due to Peter’s special “twirling” log-crossing technique.

Amber said the two had not trained for the event, although Peter runs with his daughter. “That’s not really training,” Peter said. The Smalls entered the competition with some friends, thinking it would be a fun way to spend a weekend. Although they will definitely do it again next year, Amber stressed that “it was totally a joke. We totally didn’t expect to win.”

After each of the 15 teams had run the course individually, the two fastest teams ran at the same time to determine the winner. Canada got an early lead on the initial incline, and crossed the first hurdle easily. By the time they reached the water pit, Team Canada was ahead of the Smalls by more than 10 feet.

As the crowd chanted “USA, USA,” the Smalls nearly caught up, reaching the last hurdle just as Team Canada cleared it. Their final burst of energy wasn’t enough, though, and Team USA finished just behind Canada.

As the winners, Ronson and Aspden took home Aspden’s weight in Red Hook beer and five times her weight in cash. At 130 pounds, that meant six cases of beer and $650.

In addition to not being married (the rules state that the woman doesn’t need to actually be the wife of the man) Team Canada isn’t old enough to drink. They were happy to trade one of their cases of beer for a case of the third-place winner’s water.

Second-place winners also got the wife’s weight in beer. For Amber Small, that amounted to 4 cases of beer and a case of Balance Bars.

With the help of their winnings at Sunday River and support from their local Kiwanas, Ronson and Aspden hope to make it to the World Championships in Finland. “That’s the game plan,” said Jenny’s mother.

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