NEWRY —  Among the 30 competitors already registered for the 10th Annual North American Wife Carrying Championships Saturday at Sunday River is Joe Decker, the 2000 Guinness Book of World Record’s, 24 Hour Physical Fitness Challenge winner.

Known as the “Word’s Fittest Man” Decker has competed in many of the world’s toughest endurance and adventure fitness events including, Raid Gauloises, the Badwater 135, the Marathon des Sables (“The World’s Toughest Footrace”), the Grandslam of UltraRunning, and The Tough Guy Challenge in England.

Now, Decker is looking to compete in and win the North American Wife Carrying Championship, according to a Sunday River press release.

“My wife and I are looking forward to the challenge,”  Decker said in a prepared statement. “I do these events for fun and fortunately have a wife who is tougher than I am, so she supports these types of physical tests one hundred percent.”

The winners of the NAWCC will receive five times the wife’s weight in cash and the traditional prize of the wife’s weight in beer. Prizes are also awarded to second and third place finishers, as well as for special weight and age categories.

Couples navigate a 278-yard obstacle course while the man literally “carries” the woman. Women are allowed to carry men, which occurred for the first time in 2005. The teams do not have to comprise of married couples, but they must comprise of a man and a woman and both must be at least 21 years old to enter.

Race registration will be open up until the day of the event. Registration on race day is 11 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. and is $45 per team.

 The event is part of Fall Festival Weekend, which includes the 2nd
Annual Mountain Epic Peak to Peak race, live music by Entrain, wood
carving demonstrations, the Taste of Maine sampling village, wine
tasting, the 26th Annual Blue Mountain Arts and Craft Fair, children’s
games and activities, scenic Chondola rides, wagon rides and more.

(Amber Waterman/Sun Journal 2007)
(Amber Waterman/Sun Journal file 2007)