A Finnish pair have won the country's annual wife-carrying competition for the third year in a row, organisers said on Saturday.

Taisto Miettinen and Kristiina Haapanen defended their title in front of 6,500 spectators who turned out to watch the celebrated event in Sonkajarvi.

The 46-year-old lawyer, his partner's legs wrapped around his head, sprinted 253 metres, leaping hurdles and negotiating a water pool along the way, all in a time of one minute.

Less than a second behind them were Estonian rivals Alar Voogla and Kristi Viltrop while a Lithuanian couple came third.

The competition has its roots in the legend of local bandit Herkko Rosvo-Ronkainen who lived in the forest at the end of the 19th century and stole food -- and sometimes girls -- from nearby villages.