Around 30 Hungarian couples, with husbands carrying their wives on their backs, raced over rough terrain on Saturday in the nation’s third wife-carrying contest.

Among the obstacles the couples encountered on the 260 meter-long track were a deep water-filled ditch at the beginning and end, with bales of hay and car tires along the route.

Race organizer Gergo Guraly said couples were interested in competing as it allowed them to leave their “comfort zone” and achieve a win as a unit.

The sport is said to have its origin in 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.

Most couples chose the piggyback technique. The winning couple said they perfected their technique for the second round, earning them first place overall.

Winning husband Norbert Vancsodi said their win was partly down to chance, as they were not sure they would have enough energy for the final sprint.

“We were nervous,” his wife Timea Szrnka said.