Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling — the Race Behind a Cheese
Unbelievable race — informal tradition · Cooper's Hill, Brockworth, England, United Kingdom
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The festival
A nearly vertical hill, a cheese thrown at about 110 km/h — and no one at the helm. On the 180 m slope of Cooper's Hill, a double Gloucester millstone of 7-9 pounds (about 3-4 kg) is released, which is deviating at a speed that can approach 70 mph (about 110 km/h), and dozens of participants are running and falling behind: the first down wins... the cheese. Origins are uncertain — pagan fertility rites, right of pasture?
— and the first written traces date back to 1826 according to several accounts, 1836 according to Wikipedia.
Good to know
INFORMAL TRADITION: the historic committee has dissolved; there is no official organizer or official website, and every year the Safety Advisory Group of the Tewkesbury district declares the event "unsafe" — it is nevertheless held, carried by the community, with the ambulance attendants of the part as the falls are violent. Free access. Photo credit: © Michael Warren — CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (Women's Race 2006, Dionne Carter in the lead).