Hungarians pair up for wife-carrying comp

About 40 Hungarian husbands clambered over rough terrain with their wives clinging on to them in the nation's second wife-carrying contest.

A previous race in October attracted only a dozen couples with the increase being put down to post-lockdown enthusiasm.

"We have just emerged from a difficult period due to the coronavirus and we need to go and have fun in the open air," Gergely Guraly, who organised the race on Saturday, told Reuters.

Guraly began preparations in January for the contest, which is said to have origins dating back to the Viking age.

In modern times, the tradition is particularly established in Finland, where it has taken place since the 1990s.

Estonian races have lent their name to the Estonian style of wife-carrying, with the wife upside down and her feet over her husband's shoulders, rather than a classic piggyback.

Mark Mazacs and his wife Anett chose the piggyback technique.

"We devised a strategy, figuring out the best way of carrying my wife on my back," Mark Mazacs said.