It started as a joke, in fact Alana Flemming had no idea that her friend was signing her up to be in the Wife-Carrying competition at the Bellingen Show back in May this year.
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Her ‘husband’ was Dylan Hedges – and they won!
And now they have won again, at the Singleton Show on the weekend, making them the Australian Champions, set to fly to Finland next June for the International version of this zany sport.
The long-time friends both say winning twice is incredible given the Bellingen outing was after a big night for each of them and there was not a lot more preparation for Singleton.
“Alana kept telling me to train but apart from carrying her down the drive once, I just left it to luck,” Dylan said.
“I surf and ride dirt bikes plus I am a builder by trade, so I’m pretty fit but I certainly don’t carry people around all the time!
“The course was pretty intense … and it’s your legs that just want to give out, luckily mine didn’t but some people just collapsed.”
Enjoy this video of the event:
Alana and Dylan are second out of the blocks ...
Their win is a big thrill for Alana, who has never been to Europe before.
“I’ve never won anything and now this happens – it’s so funny!” Alana said.
“Our flights and everything are paid for and we’ll stay on a bit longer to enjoy it – it’s held in July next year.
“I’ve told Dylan if he trains, then I’ll fast for the last week to lose about five kilos (Alana now weighs 55kg, minimum weight for the competition is 49kg).
“The hardest part over there will be the water because you can’t dismount – hopefully I can lift my head out or hold my breath. We’ll have to practice that.”
Their Singleton win was a close run thing – there was only 1.5 seconds between them and second place – but that was enough to see them Australia’s representatives.
Well done and good luck to you both!
And for the record – Alana and Dylan are the second Bellingen couple to ‘carry’ this honour – Adrian and Amanda Betts paved the way in Singleton in 2016 and went to Finland last year!