The Cooper’s Hill Cheese Roll is as crazy as it sounds

The key to winning the cheese, according to Chris Anderson, the Mo Farah of cheese rolling competitions, is picking your line and staying on your feet for as long as you can. “And when you fall,” he told local reporters before the 2017 Cooper’s Hill Cheese Roll, “don’t brace up; people who brace up break bones.”

Since at least 1850, locals in the Gloucester region of England have climbed Cooper’s Hill, a roughly 200m, 45 degree-angle patchy embankment, and throw themselves back down it, in chase of a wheel of rolling cheese.

In the last few years, the Cooper’s Hill Cheese Roll has grown to attract participants from around the world, including Canadians. The Japanese are apparently especially into the event, after a visiting game show host won one of the seven races a few years back.

This year, Anderson, a local who started chasing cheese when he was 16, won the three events he could participate in (there is a women’s only event as well), tying him as the all-time cheese king at 20 wheels over 13 years of competing.

With the event’s increased popularity, the afternoon now includes an 11-and-under children’s event and an uphill race, which looks arguably more gruelling than falling down for about 10 seconds.

There is no entry, you just show up at noon on the annual spring bank holiday (this year it took place on May 29), climb the hill and throw yourself down it when the appropriate race is set to go. You win by getting to the bottom first, and while it’s ideal to catch the cheese, it’s not required for victory.

Search and rescue, EMS workers with multiple ambulances and a rugby team stand at the bottom, waiting to scrape participants off various parts of the hill or block them from crashing into the medical tent.

This year’s roll was made crazier than usual by rainy conditions, greasing up the pitted and uneven grassy surface.

“The locals come because it’s a thing to do,” said one volunteer, even though the race was going to be potentially disastrous for many.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fGwy2z-I_Y

The cheese is typically a 7-9 lb. double Gloucester by cheesemaker Smarts. Locals purchase and donate them for the races. According to their website (which looks a bit dated, advertising a 2011 local cheese competition victory) a full wheel goes for about £45.00 ($78). The cheese is sent rolling a second before the horn, and can hit speeds of well over 100km/hr, making it dangerous enough that local police have suggested to Smarts that they may be liable for any lactose-related injuries.

Sprained ankles are the most common injury, along with the odd concussion. “I’m getting to that age where it’s starting to rattle me a bit,” said Anderson before the race, suggesting that after the 2018 edition, where he hopes to become the all-time cheese-getter, he’ll retire from controlled falling competitions.

In 2017, thousands crowded the top of the hill before the noon start. Many dressed in costumes. Spider-man, a giant inflated dinosaur, Robin (as in Batman’s sidekick) and, of course, a cow were spotted falling on their faces mid-hill.

An emu and a turkey were interviewed by local media after the event.

“I was out at the pub last night, so I said, “you want to chase some cheese down a hill?”, said the young man in the turkey suit. “I thought, ‘I’ll have a bash at that… as a turkey.'”

Another participate told those at the bottom, “It’s scary at the top, but once you go there’s no point in being scared – just go for it.”