Cooper`s Hill Cheese Rolling

                    CODE:F-Coopers

The Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake is an annual event held on the Spring Bank Holiday at Cooper's Hill near Cheltenham and Gloucester in the Cotswolds region of England. It is traditionally by and for the people of Brockworth - the local village, but now people from over the world take part. The event takes its name from the hill on which it occurs.

From the top of the hill a round of Double Gloucester cheese is rolled, and competitors race down the hill after it. The first person over the finish line at the bottom of the hill wins the cheese. In theory, competitors are aiming to catch the cheese, but since it has a one second head start and can reach speeds up to 70 mph (112 km/h, enough to knock over and injure a spectator as it did in 1997), this rarely occurs.

Accurate information is hard to come by, but the tradition is at least 200 years old. Suggestions have been made that the event may either date back to Roman times or have been a pagan healing ritual, but there is no evidence for this.

"The Cheese Rollers" is also the name of the nearby pub in Shurdington, about 3 miles from Cooper's Hill, but the nearest are The Cross Hands and The Victoria (both of which are in Brockworth). Competitors will frequent these venues for some pre-event Dutch courage or discussion of tactics, and after the event for some convalescence.

Cooper's Hill is also known as a stop on the Cotswold Way.

The latest event started at midday on 26 May 2008.

Each year the event becomes more and more popular with contestants coming from all across the world to compete or even simply to spectator

The cheese used in the event is Double Gloucester, a hard cheese typically manufactured in cylindrical blocks.  The current supplier is local cheese maker Diana Smart, who has supplied the cheese since 1988.

During the Second World War rationing was introduced, preventing the use of a cheese in the event. Consequently, from 1941 to 1954 a wooden "cheese" was used instead with a piece of cheese in a hollow space in the center of the wooden replica

It's not easy to convince someone how dangerous cheese rolling can be, but this event has proved so dangerous in recent years that the police have occasionally resorted to banning it. In 1997 one man who stood up while trying to dodge the cheese was hit on the head and tumbled some 100 feet, ending the day in hospital. The winner of the actual race, postman Craig Carter, suffered a broken arm. Despite the injury he seemed to be content. He had broken the other arm when he won three years before...

St John Ambulance operations training manager Jim Jones said that 12 spectators and 13 competitors had been injured during the 2006 event. "It was quite a reasonable year, not too bad at all," he said. "We usually average around 30-40 people who need treatment."

Cheese Rolling at Cooper's Hill Official Website

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