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Global Competitors Roll Down A Hill To Chase After Cheese Each Year in English Cheese Rolling Event.
The Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake, Gloucestershire, South West England
The Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake is an annual event held on the Spring Bank Holiday at Cooper's Hill, near Gloucester in England.
It was traditionally held by and for the people who live in the local village of Brockworth, Gloucestershire, but now people from all over the world take part.
The Guardian newspaper called it a "world-famous event", with winners from the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Nepal.
The event is traditional and takes its name from the steep hill on which it occurs.
A view down Cooper's Hill, from the start point of the race to the finish (where the dog-walkers are). The face of the hill itself is concave, and hence cannot be seen from this angle. The posts at the bottom are signs from the local council requesting that, to avoid soil erosion, people do not walk on the face of the hill. The posts are removed for the annual event.
Until recent years, it was managed in a quasi-official manner by nominated locals, but since 2010 the event has taken place spontaneously without any management.
From the top of the hill, a 7–9 pounds (3–4 kilograms) round of Double Gloucester cheese is sent rolling down the hill, and competitors then start racing down the hill after it.
The first person over the finish line at the bottom of the hill wins the cheese.
The competitors are aiming to catch the cheese; however, it has around a one-second head start and can reach speeds up to 70 miles per hour (110 kilometres per hour), enough to knock over and injure a spectator. In the 2013 competition, a foam replica replaced the cheese for reasons of safety.
The winner was given the prize of an actual cheese after the competition.
Crowds of people and photographers stand and watch as people from the UK, Ireland, America, Australia, New Zealand, China, etc, throw themselves down a hill and start rolling about as they frantically try to catch the rolling cheese.
A winner of the cheese in the video below stated that he doesn't even like cheese.
The Cheese Rollers pub in the nearby village of Shurdington, about 3 miles (5 kilometres) from Cooper's Hill, takes its name from the event.
This ceremony originally took place each Whit Monday, before it later transferred to the Spring Bank Holiday. Two possible origins have been proposed for the ceremony. The first is said that it evolved from a requirement for maintaining grazing rights on the common.
The second proposal is pagan origins for the custom of rolling objects down the hill. It is thought that bundles of burning brushwood were rolled down the hill to represent the birth of the New Year after winter. Connected with this belief is the traditional scattering of buns, biscuits and sweets at the top of the hill by the Master of Ceremonies. This is said to be a fertility rite to encourage the fruits of harvest.
The first written evidence of cheese rolling is found from a message written to the Gloucester town crier in 1826, though even then it was apparent the event was an old tradition.
Each year, the event becomes more and more popular, with contestants coming from all across the world to compete, or even simply to watch.
In 1993, fifteen people were injured, four seriously, chasing cheeses down the one-in-three hill.
A race down the hill for the cheese on 27th May 2013
On 24 March 2010, the organisers faced a backlash following an announcement of how the 2011 event would be run. The plans had been made to conduct the event under mounting pressure from the local council, who stipulated it should include security, perimeter fencing to allow crowd control, and spectator areas that would charge an entrance fee. The event proceeded without management.
'No-one's going to stop us doing it. They say it's not official, but we are all Brockworth people, and we're running the cheese today, so it is official. We strongly believe in it.'
— Former winner Helen Thorpe in May 2011.
'Since we announced an entry fee, we have been bombarded with so much hostility and criticism, much of it at a personal level, including accusations of profiteering, and some of the committee have even received threats.'
— Cheese Rolling Committee spokesman Richard Jefferies speaking in March 2011.
The Master of Ceremonies (MC) holding the cheese
The 2011 event took place without management, due to safety concerns over the number of people visiting the event, resulting in the 'Save the Cheese Roll' campaign.
Despite the cancellation and lack of paramedics, around 500 people showed up in 2011 to hold some spontaneous races; no major injuries were reported.
The cheese currently used in the event is 7–9 pounds (3–4 kilograms) Double Gloucester, a hard cheese traditionally made in a circular shape. Each is protected for the rolling by a wooden casing round the side, and is decorated with ribbons at the start of the race.
Formerly, three cheeses were presented by parishioners, and the cheeses were usually rolled by them. A collection is usually made now to purchase them, as well as sweets, and also to provide prize money. The current supplier is local cheesemaker Diana Smart and her son Rod, who have supplied the cheese since 1988.
In May 2013, a police inspector warned the 86-year-old cheese maker Diana Smart that she could be held responsible for injuries. Chief Superintendent Nigel Avron of Gloucestershire Police also made these comments: "If you are an organiser in some way or some capacity you could potentially be held liable for something that took place at that event".
In recent years, organisers of the event, have felt compelled to use a lightweight foam version for safety reasons. In the second race (2013) Australian Caleb Stalder managed to catch the fake cheese and claim victory, despite being some way behind the leaders.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooper...lling_and_Wake
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