CNN
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It is said to be the most dangerous race in the world, and it is certainly one of the most ridiculous. A 200-yard dash after double glouster cheese wheels.
To win, all you have to do is chase it on a grassy hill and cross the finish line in front of someone else. But that’s much easier than that. The hills are very steep so you can inflict dizziness on the starting line and there is no guarantee that you will reach the bottom with one piece.
“You have to ignore your safety,” Chris Anderson explained to CNN Sports. Anderson won the first race of his record 23 races in 2005, smashing his ankle in celebration, but he didn’t put off the unbearable pain in the cast and eight weeks.
The following year he won again, but I don’t remember much about his third victory in 2007. He crossed the unconscious finish line. “It was a bit of a blur,” he pointed out, recalling that he slammed his head halfway through.
It seems no one is certain how long he has been chasing Cooper Hill in the village of Brockworth in southwestern England, but it appeared in the first written record in 1826. It may have begun as a pagan ritual to celebrate farmers’ crops.
But it is a tradition that locals fought to preserve, and that is something they are extremely proud of. And now, with the advent of the Internet age, it is an event that has truly become international. Thousands of people gathered at the event on the final bank holiday in May, and the winners were welcomed from as far away as New Zealand, Australia, Egypt and the United States.
But the ultimate champions are those who know the hills best: locals. “I was camping with a friend,” Anderson said. “We were drunk and we were throwing each other away.”
The hills are ridiculous. It’s the first drop of 60 degrees with an average slope of 45 degrees. Looking down from above, it initially looked like a thin drop, and many runners changed their minds at the last moment they realized their purpose.
“The first 10 meters seem to be closer to vertical,” Anderson explained to CNN. “You almost have to jump into it and get up.
“As soon as you go, there’s no stopping. You just have to take over the momentum. Try to stand up as long as possible.
Ideally, Anderson prefers to soften the ground, but not wet. The dryer, the better traction, and the harder the terrain, the higher the chances of injury.
Video footage of the cheese rolling lace depicts a scene of total confusion. Few competitors can stay upright for a very long time. Some competitors are worried about slipping down the bottom and trying to maintain control, while others have lost all their dignity and are falling in a variety of states of distress.
Stills taken by the photographer at the bottom introduces a tableau that is confusing, like a giant tilting a series of action figures on a hillside, with his body upside down or sideways, his limbs shaking everywhere.
Anderson remembers attending cheese roll for the first time around age 10 and seeing a mass of humanity shine through him on the hill.
“It was so much fun seeing people fly and fall,” he recalls, adding that it was all fun and not a game. “One of the most outstanding things was when someone broke his leg, his stud stuck on the ground, and momentum pushed him forward.
Serious injuries are virtually guaranteed, and for a year Anderson witnessed three ankles. Two of them belonged to international runners who missed home due to emergency surgery.
Ankle injuries are common. Ankle injuries are common, just like concussions. 2023 women’s champion Delaney Irving was knocked out just before the finish line and only learned of her victory when she was told about it in a medical enclosure.
In Netflix’s docusary “We Are The Champions,” women’s record holder and four-time winner Flo Earty revealed the protrusion of her right shoulder, a permanent look caused by broken collar bones on the hill.
Therefore, it is not surprising that many runners may need a splash of alcohol to run. Anderson said the race had started at 6:30pm in the evening, but so many people were drunk that the start time moved earlier. Now runners who need the courage of the Netherlands are beginning to drink sooner.
Anderson told CNN Sports that he prepares moderately by drinking one lager on the walk-up. “I always try to stay as calm as possible because if you’re drunk and break something, there’s not much they can give you for the pain,” he said.
Signs posted all over the hills reveal that runners are taking part at their own risk. Local enthusiasts who stage the event say they are not the official organizer. In the case of injuries, no one will sue. Events are uninsured.
Nevertheless, the BBC reported in 2013 that Gloucestershire police had advised Diana Smart, a 86-year-old cheese maker. He creates a 6.6 pound (3 kilogram) wheel of double gloucester cheese used in the race.
Anderson told CNN he had no intention of breaking the 21 cheese victory record set in 1991, but after reaching 13 he decided to continue. In 2011 and 2017, he won three races in one day, breaking the record with two more wins in 2018.
At 37, he is recovering from a long-term hip injury – and he is “to retire” – but if his 16-year-old son decides to compete, he could be tempted back to the hill and be seduced to make sure he gets it right.
“I’m happy he can run,” he said. Veteran cheese chasers know there are many ways to get hurt on the hills. “The most dangerous thing is to slow down and get hit from behind. I want him to be fast enough to escape the massacre.”
And if he decides to run again, he said it’s not for the cheese: “I don’t actually like it. It has a pretty strong aftertaste to it.”