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Competitors throw themselves down Coopers Hill in pursuit of a round Double Gloucester cheese (pictured right) during the annual cheese rolling and wake near Gloucester, western England. (AFP/Adrian Dennis)
Posted on 05/26/2008 2:51:13 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
GLOUCESTER, England (AFP) - Fearless thrill-seekers on Monday flipped, slipped, somersaulted and tumbled down a suicidally steep slope in western England to try to catch a giant runaway circle of cheese.
The cheese rolling event at Coopers Hill is one of Britain's more unusual annual events and is not for the faint-hearted but it was made even more perilous this year by torrential rain that turned the course into a mudbath.
Organisers claimed the downpours that lashed much of southern Britain over the weekend made the vertiginous slope softer underfoot but more than 30 first aid volunteers were kept busy as 19 people limped in with injuries.
A 19-year-old man, Christopher Anderson, won the first race but was carried from the hill on a spinal board after tumbling past the finish line head over heels, hurting his back in the process.
"The conditions were horrific, you just have to get your head down and hope for the best," said his friend, Shane Beard. "Chris went absolutely flying -- he is completely fearless but I hope he hasn't hurt himself."
More than 3,000 people cheered on the competitors, many of whom came from as far afield as Australia, New Zealand and Japan, as they careered down the 200-metre slope in five bone-crunching races.
In parts, the normally grassy hill has a 1:1 gradient.
A 17-year-old student, Flo Early, won the women's race and got to keep the wheel of Double Gloucester cheese. She then declared: "Next year I want to take on the boys."
Cheese rolling is thought to date back as far as the ancient Britons or the Romans, but no one knows for sure how the race started.
During rationing between 1941 and 1954, a wooden substitute with a token piece of cheese inside was chased by competitors.
.Competitors throw themselves down Coopers Hill in pursuit of a round Double Gloucester cheese (pictured right) during the annual cheese rolling and wake near Gloucester, western England. (AFP/Adrian Dennis)
A Double Gloucester cheese is held up at Cooper's Hill, Gloucestershire, during the annual cheese rolling event. Scores of foolhardy competitors are gearing up to pitch themselves down a steep hill in pursuit of an eight-pound cheese as part of Gloucestershire's annual cheese rolling event. (AFP/File/Carl de Souza) Photo Tools
First, we roll it, and then we cut it.
That cheese roll is faster than an Ethiopian chicken.
Do they cut the cheese after they roll it?
I’d like to see them try that on a snow-packed hill in the midwest ..:-)
sounds like it would go down real easy..
except for the ..a 70mph, 80lb wheel of cheese...downhill. part . Yikes..
http://www.artisanalcheese.com/prodinfo.asp?number=10001
Double Gloucester is a traditional English cheddar-style cheese from Gloucestershire with a bold orange color and bright, eggy, and somewhat sharp flavor. Double Gloucester has the honor and distinction of being used each spring for the Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake on Gloucestershire’s Cooper’s Hill, which consists of competitors chasing a wheel of Double Gloucester down an uneven hillside. The competitors are expected to catch the wheel of cheese; but, with speeds in excess of 70mph, this is virtually impossible. We are pleased to offer Double Gloucester to our customers in convenient half-pound increments, thus sparing you potential injury from running after (or from!) a 70mph, 80lb wheel of cheese...downhill. Pair this cheese with a traditional British Ale or spicier red like Syrah.
This looks like a Monty Python skit...and a funny one at that.
Wallace and Gromet would be proud. It’s all about the cheese.
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