Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling

The famous Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling is back, with the 2010 event promising plenty of thrills and spills as the fearless competitors tumble head over heels in an attempt to win the coveted Double Gloucester cheese.

Click here to see SoGlos.com's review of the Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling 2009 action.

While Spain has its Tomatina tomato-throwing festival and running of the bulls, the USA plays host to the World Pillow Fighting Championship and Japan sees bare men run through the streets as part of its Naked Festival, Gloucestershire is home to an unbelievable spectacle to top them all.

With a disputed history dating back to at least the 1800s, the annual Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake involves hordes of fearless competitors chasing a weighty 8lb Double Gloucester cheese down a death-defyingly-steep hill. The slope on Cooper’s Hill in Gloucester, the eponymous setting for the world-famous event, is in fact so steep that very few contenders manage to even stay on their feet, instead tumbling head over heels down the hill in a desperate effort to catch the coveted prize.

While in reality the cheese can never actually be caught – with a brief headstart it soon reaches breakneck speeds – the race winner is the first person to cross the line at the bottom of the hill. Some contenders sadly don’t make it all the way down though, and instead lie in wait for the St John Ambulance crew who are on hand to fix-up the daredevils or whisk them away to the local A&E.

The highest injury toll in recent years occurred in 1997 when 33 competitors were treated for everything from splinters to broken bones, and in 2005 races were apparently delayed as ambulances delivered victims to the local hospital before returning to wait for the next batch of casualties. Spectators have also be known to receive their fair share of injuries – one year an off-course cheese took out an innocent bystander – but you can rest assured that such occurrences are rare.

As normal five official downhill races are expected to be held on Monday 31 May 2010, including one ladies’ race, each involving around 20 competitors who will line-up and anxiously await the master of ceremonies’ commands before setting off. The winner of each race receives a Double Gloucester cheese, supplied by Smart’s Farm for more than 20 years, as well as enjoying local and even international fame. Children will also have the opportunity to get involved on the day in between adult races, but not downhill – instead taking part in a series of much safer up-hill races.

Growing in popularity every year, SoGlos.com’s videos of the 2007, 2008 and 2009 events have in fact been watched more than five million times on websites around the world, the Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling 2010 is once again set to attract thousands of visitors for one of the world’s wackiest spectator events.

Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling 2009 video

Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling 2008 video

Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling 2007 video

For a whole host of additional information, including details and pictures of previous year’s events, visit the official website cheese-rolling.co.uk.