A healthy level of competitiveness is essential for succeeding in the construction industry. Every day, craftsmen are up against themselves, the elements, and fellow construction businesses. Competition helps sharpen your skills, build a strong work ethic, and develop a tough mentality. Of course, this growth and improvement aren’t limited to the job site. There are plenty of exciting, challenging, and downright intriguing craftsmen competitions where you can test your abilities. The only question is if you can handle these feats.
Wife Carrying Competitions
Pick-up game is given a whole new meaning in this high-stakes competition where participants undergo a gauntlet of obstacles while carrying their wives. However, wives are also allowed to carry their husbands! The official course is just over 830 feet long and includes one water and two land obstacles. It’s basically like running a decathlon with an additional 150 lbs strapped to your back. Competitions take place around the world with the US championship being hosted in Menahga Minnesota. There’s still hope for couples that don’t come in first with separate awards given to the strongest carrier, the most entertaining pair, and the most popular costumes.
Timbersports
Every time you throw on a classic flannel shirt, you’re paying homage to the craftsmen of the woods. If you’ve ever wanted to give the life of a lumberjack a shot, you’ll be psyched to hear about Timbersports. Timbersports features six different disciplines testing a participant’s use of various axes and chainsaws. And we’re not talking fancy cuts or complicated angles. This one-of-a-kind event sees lumberjacks scaling posts with wooden planks, hacking away at massive logs while standing on top of them, using a cartoonishly large saw to slice through a log, and so much more. It’s definitely one of the craziest official sports you’ll ever see.
Further Reading: 5 Winter Activities to Get In Touch With Your Wild Side
Chess Boxing
Whoever said boxing is like chess probably never intended for these sports to actually take place at the same time. In the perfect test of brain and brawn, Chess Boxing sees participants duke it out on the chessboard and in the ring. The competition bounces between a round of chess and a round of boxing until someone wins by checkmate or KO. What initially started out as performance art has grown into a popular international sport with various chess boxing organizations and championships. This is a perfect competition for craftsmen who are always working both their bodies and their minds.
Mobile Phone Throwing
If you’ve ever chucked your phone out of frustration, you might qualify for the next installment on our list. Mobile phone throwing, as you might be able to guess from the name, involves the tossing of mobile devices over long distances. Like other peculiar competitions on this list, mobile phone throwing originated in Scandinavia, and the world championships have been held in Finland ever since 2000. The sport typically consists of four main events including the traditional format which sees phones thrown over the shoulder, the freestyle portion where participants are judged on creativity, a team version of the traditional format, and a junior division.
Idiotarod
The Idiotarod is a tongue-in-cheek spin on the world-famous Iditarod race. But, instead of racing dog sleds across the frozen tundra, participants race modified shopping carts down the hills of major cities. If you’re looking for an at-home DIY project, you could always soup up a normal shopping cart into a downhill drag racer. Although there’s no official championship, Idiotarod events are held in big cities across the country. As one of the more dangerous extreme events on this list, you might want to stick to watching this event.
Struggling to outshine the competition in the job market? The Madden Craftsman team is here to help! We support qualified craftsmen like you in finding rewarding gigs with some of the top construction companies in the PNW. You can check out our job board for the latest openings by visiting IamMadden.com.
