The annual British cheese rolling competition took place in the Gloucestershire countryside on Monday with racers tumbling downhill after wheels of cheese.
Social media footage, filmed by English blogger Tom Bourlet, showed competitors chasing a wheel of double Gloucester cheese, tripping and tumbling down the 200-yard-long Cooper’s Hill, which has a 1:2 gradient.
“It was unbelievable. Such a friendly atmosphere with people from all over the world,” Bourlet told Reuters, adding it was his first time at the competition and definitely wouldn’t be his last.
Winner of the men’s race was 22-year-old Max McDougall. Veteran cheese chaser, 31-year-old Chris Anderson who holds a record 22 wins over the past 15 years, did not compete as he was on holiday, media reported.
Flo Early, 28, won the women’s race.
The first written evidence of the event dates back to 1826, but the tradition was established long before, some suggest perhaps as a pagan ritual.
