While National Cheese Day in the U.S. is still a week away, some cheese lovers in England spent the day running after their favorite cheese. Not in the know about cheese chasing? This English tradition will give cheese lovers major FOMO. If cheese is your BAE, you probably spend a lot of time chasing your next cheese high, though it's doubtful that you're running after cheese in a literal sense. According to the website Rad Season, the Copper Hill Cheese Rolling event is considered one of the world’s most bizarre ‘Feats of Strength’ events.
"Upwards of 40 contests annually attempt to chase a rolling cheese wheel down the hill for what may be the strangest competition in the history of mankind," Rad Season noted. "However, the rich tradition dates back several hundred years validating the race as a world-famous event." And because people love everything weird, Twitter users totally cheesed out about this annual cheese-chasing phenomena.
"England Rugby lost; England Cricket lost; England footy iffy at best, BUT boy do we know how to chase cheese," Roger Pellant proudly tweeted. Cheese chasing is dubbed dangerous for both spectators and participants, who chase after an 8-to-9 lb wheel of double Gloucester cheese that rolls down a hill at speeds as high as 70 mph.
If chasing cheese for fun is your jam, you might want to put this event on your calendar for next year. Rad Season noted that cheese chasing is a disorganized and informal sport. Anyone can join in, and there is no application or registration process. So, if you wake up in England on the morning of the event next year, and you've got cheese on the brain, the only logical thing to do is to run after it.
While it's not really clear if the winner of the cheese-chasing event gets to eat the giant block of cheese once the contest is over, this event is so popular that spectators come from all over to witness one lucky person triumph over cheese. Though, watching the cheese-chasing competition is not without its risks. "Even spectators have been impaled after being hit by the wheel of cheese," Rad Season claimed. "No one is safe." Who knew cheese was so dangerous?
According to the BBC, this year's winner broke a record in the cheese-chasing event. "Chris Anderson has now taken home a total of 22 double Gloucester cheeses in 14 years, after chasing the hefty 8 lb cheeses down Cooper's Hill," the BBC reported.
Cheese chasing is apparently a full-on contact sport, and while it's a good idea to dress accordingly, one competitor, reportedly known as known as Mangoes, ran after the giant wheel of cheese in nothing but a Speedo-style swimsuit. "Last year was the first time I did it and I knew I had to come back. It's a no-brainer," he told the BBC. "It's the most exhilarating thing you can do."
The cheese-chasing event features men's, women's, and children's competitions, and even cheese-related injuries don't stop competitors from trying to become the big cheese. One Twitter user posted that a competitor in the women's contest went to the hospital for a shoulder injury, but promptly returned with her arm in a sling to continue chasing cheese.
"Winner of the women’s event just carted off to hospital," Brad Poole tweeted. He then followed up with: "She is back, arm in a cast, acknowledging the crowd. This is what the cheese rolling is all about," "What a day, what a sport and what a woman."
If you thought no one on Earth could rival your love and dedication to cheese, people who compete in the annual cheese-chasing contest prove otherwise. But, fear not my friendlies. You can head to England to chase cheese next year and reclaim your title as the world's biggest cheesehead.
