Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling

Gloucestershire’s Cooper’s Hill has played host to the traditional cheese rolling event since the 1800s, with thousands of spectators and daring competitors descending on Cooper’s Hill, determined to keep this world-famous tradition alive – with this year’s event set to take place on Monday 31 May 2021.

The slope on Cooper’s Hill in Gloucester, the setting for the world-famous event, is in fact so steep that very few contestants manage to stay on their feet, instead tumbling head-over-heels down the hill in a desperate effort to catch the coveted dairy prize – a weighty 8lb Double Gloucester.

Check out SoGlos’s video of the 2016 cheese rolling action below, or visit our dedicated YouTube channel at youtube.com/soglos for more viral videos of the Gloucestershire tradition, from as far back as 2007.

While in reality the cheese can never actually be caught – with a brief headstart it soon reaches breakneck speeds – the Cheese Rolling 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, with the highest injury toll in recent years occurring in 1997 when 33 competitors were treated for everything from splinters to broken bones, and in 2005 races were delayed as ambulances delivered victims to the local hospital before returning to wait for the next batch of casualties.

Brave competitors hoping to chase the cheese this year will head to the top of Cooper’s Hill in Brockworth on Monday 31 May 2021 to take part in the event – with downhill races for men and women and one uphill race for children on the day.

© SoGlos
Wednesday 06 January 2021