Delaware couple Roehms continue wife-carrying dominance by protecting North American title
NEWARK, Del. (BVM) — If there were such a thing as a dynasty in the sport of wife-carrying, the Newark-based couple of Jerome and Olivia Roehm would be well on their way to starting one. The couple, known in the competition as “The Lovebirds” have only been participating in wife-carrying for the past two years, but they have already established themselves as the team to beat not just in the Northeast, but the entire country.
At this year’s North American Wife Carrying Championship at the Sunday River Resort in Newry, Maine on Oct. 9, the Lovebirds came in as the favorites after dominating the championship a year ago when they won the event the first time they ever participated in it. Though they came in as the team to beat and with targets placed squarely on their backs, the Roehms made it clear that their dominance is not ending soon.
“It felt good because we went in there with expectations of course,” Jerome said. “It felt good to have those expectations justified.”
In a much smaller field of competitors than last year, with only 16 couples participating instead of 2019’s 45 total, the Lovebirds won the day with a time of 53.85 seconds, seven seconds better than the next closest couple who finished with a time of one minute and 1.75 seconds. The couple also beat their finish from a year ago when they won the championship with a time of 55.95 seconds. For the 6-foot-6 Jerome and the 5-foot-2 Olivia, the improved time was music to their ears.
“I was shocked honestly,” Olivia said. “It was pretty amazing.”
“We were pretty fired up,” Jerome said. “When we finished I let out my viking yell. … We beat ourselves which was nice because I am one more year removed from my super competitive football days so it’s nice to know I’m still in shape.”
Much of that improvement was thanks to a full commitment to the sport. Among a more strenuous exercise routine, the Roehms also built items similar to the obstacles they would see on the course such as a hurdle the pair would need to cross. The extra effort was worth it in the end for the Lovebirds.
“We haven’t gotten to do as much training together as last year, but I’ve been doing more specialized training for wife-carrying,” Jerome said. “I had a big old sandbag that I would carry around on my back and I had a weight vest sometimes I would wear.”
The win also filled a void of sorts for the Roehms. After winning last year’s event, the couple qualified to participate in the 2020 Wife Carrying World Championship which was set to take place July 3-4 in Sonkajärvi, Finland. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was canceled and the Roehms’ opportunity was also lost. The win at this year’s North American competition helped the couple feel like their time training and focusing on the world event was not for nothing.
“It was a nice consolation,” Jerome said. “We were pretty devastated when the world championship was canceled. We had our tickets booked, our hotels booked, we had a whole plan. … We kind of turned our attention to the North American one and hoped it would still happen and it did.”
With their win, the Roehms also received similar prizes. This year, the couple came away with a $570 cash prize, up from the $555 they made a year ago. They also walked away with Olivia’s weight in beer, or six cases in other words.
“The beer is good,” Jerome said. “We got a New England IPA this year from Shipyard Brewery. It’s a special edition for Sunday River. … It’s really growing on me. It brings back those memories and every time you drink it you think, ‘Oh yeah! That’s the reason we won this.’”
The Lovebirds were happy with the way organizers handled the event. With so many sports being altered to avoid complications with the coronavirus, wife-carrying was no different as team’s would not race other couples during the run, a difference from the qualifying runs of two couples each traditionally. Instead, couples ran the course individually to ensure safe social distancing practices. The entire event itself was also different as there were a limited number of fans and no festival atmosphere that the event had a year ago.
“It was a bit subdued,” Jerome said. “The atmosphere wasn’t quite as festive with not as many people there and no big party afterwards.”
Though the Roehms understand that the title may not be as impressive or significant to people outside of the sport, they are still quite proud of their accomplishments and what they have been able to do over the past two years.
“It feels great,” Jerome said. “It’s not the Olympics, but it’s something.”
“It’s amazing,” Olivia added. “It was really fun to come back this year and win it again because it was defending our title [and proving] we do deserve to go to Finland next year still. Just reinforcing we’ve been working really hard.”
While it remains to be seen if the couple will be able to go to Finland for the World Championship next year given the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, they will continue to prepare for it as if it were a guaranteed thing. With plenty of love for the sport, going to the world championships would mean the world to the Roehms.
“We’re really looking forward to it,” Jerome said. “We certainly plan on doing it. … I know that the organizers of the world competition really want to have it after they canceled it last year. … It’ll be a memory for a lifetime if we are to go there and certainly a memory for a lifetime if we were to become the first North American couple to win.”
“We have our sights set high,” Olivia said. “If we could come out of it in either first, second or third, I think we would be really, really happy and pleased with ourselves. It’ll be that thing that we did when we were 27.”
The pair doesn’t know when their run or their participation will end. With many things already happening in their lives including starting new jobs and trying to start a family, the Roehms want to enjoy the competitions while they can. Though there may be some hurdles in the future, they’ve proved that they’re good at getting over them and want to continue going as long as they can.
“We look first and foremost to creating memories and have a great time and after that hopefully be competitive,” Jerome said. “Who knows how long we’ll be able to do this? Eventually, we will have more than just the two of us and so our opportunities to do those kinds of things will be limited.”
“It’s just this kind of fun, super random, wild thing that we’re doing now and it’s fun,” Olivia said. “Last year we did it on a whim. This year it was tradition now. We’ll probably keep doing it though we might skip some years for kids or whatever. But, I have a feeling we’ll probably go as long as we’re up in this area.”
Bringing home another North American Wife Carrying Championship trophy feels good for the Roehms. While they will take some time to revel in their victory (including drinking some of the beer they won for their win), the Lovebirds won’t rest too long. They have a name they’re trying to protect and a dynasty they are trying to create.