Cheese rolling is an annual event held in May at Cooper's Hill near Gloucester. Competitors race down the hill after a Double Gloucestercheese, and the first person over the line wins the cheese.
Due to the steepness and uneven surface of the hill there are often casualties, ranging from sprained ankles to broken bones and concussion. Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling has been summarised as "twenty young men chase a cheese off a cliff and tumble 200 yards to the bottom, where they are scraped up by paramedics and packed off to hospital".
Accurate information is hard to come by, but the tradition is at least 200 years old, and may date back to Roman times, and may have been a paganhealing ritual.
External links
Cooper's Hill Annual Cheese Rolling and Wake (http://www.cheese-rolling.co.uk/)
The Cooper's Hill CheeseRolling and Wake is an annual event held in May at Cooper's Hill near Gloucester.
In theory, competitors are aiming to catch the cheese, but since it has a second's head start and can reach immense speeds (enough to knock over and injure a spectator in 1997), this rarely occurs.
Due to the steepness and uneven surface of the hill there are usually a number of injuries, ranging from sprained ankles to broken bones and concussion.
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