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WORLD

Rolling Thunder: Contestants Chase Cheese Wheel Down a Hill in Chaotic UK Race

LONDON — The big cheese of extreme U.K. sports events is back.

Hundreds of spectators gathered Monday to watch dozens of reckless racers chase a 7-pound (3 kilogram) wheel of Double Gloucester cheese down the near-vertical Cooper’s Hill, near Gloucester in southwest England.

The first racer to finish behind the fast-rolling cheese gets to keep it.

Participants compete in the women’s downhill race during the Cheese Rolling contest at Cooper’s Hill in Brockworth, Gloucestershire, Monday May 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

The cheese-rolling race has been held at Cooper’s Hill, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of London, since at least 1826, and the sport of cheese-rolling is believed to be much older.

The rough-and-tumble event often comes with safety concerns. Few competitors manage to stay on their feet all the way down the 200-yard (180 meter) hill, and this year several had to be helped, limping, from the course.

Cooper Cummings from the United States celebrates after winning a men’s downhill during the Cheese Rolling contest at Cooper’s Hill in Brockworth, Gloucestershire, Monday May 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Canadian contestant Delaney Irving, 19, won the women’s race despite being briefly knocked unconscious.

“I just remember hitting my head, and now I have the cheese,” said Irving, who comes from Nanaimo, British Columbia.

Matt Crolla, center, celebrates after winning the men’s downhill race during the Cheese-Rolling contest at Cooper’s Hill in Brockworth, Gloucestershire, Monday, May 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Matt Crolla, 28, from Manchester in northwestern England, won the first of several men’s races. Asked how he had prepared, he told reporters: “I don’t think you can train for it, can you? It’s just being an idiot.”

 

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