Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling the Most Dangerous and Exciting Downhill Race In The World
During my most recent adventure, I attended the the most exciting, entertaining, and dangerous downhill race in the world, the Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling race. Classified as an extreme sport, the origin of the cheese rolling race is lost in antiquity, but the race is hundreds of years old. The cheese rolling consist of race participants chasing a round of Double Gloucester cheese down near vertical 200-yard hill face with rugby players at the bottom of the hill to catch the participants as most are running too fast to stop themselves. Watching the rugby players “catch”, not tackle (wink) the racers was one of the best parts of the experience.
I love seeking out new adventures and I have wanted to travel to the Cooper’s Hill cheese roll since I first heard of it a few years ago. This was my best opportunity to attend! In preparation to travel to the Cheese Roll, I did some basic research by looking at YouTube videos and articles focused on the race. Unfortunately, most videos were focused on the extreme sport nature of the race and the articles were informative, but centered on the history of the event. There was a gap on the particulars of traveling to the event such as where to park. Packing up the kids early on the morning of the bank holiday, I started the two hour drive to Brockworth, home of Cooper’s Hill. Before leaving home, my wife made me promise not to participate in the race myself. I happily agreed as my hill running days are far behind me.
After the early morning drive, I pulled into a massive backlog of cars entering Brockworth after finding a parking location at the end of the town. The kids and I started the miles long trek to Cooper’s Hill. The town of Brockworth was overflowing with cars and visitors. I left home at 8:00 a.m. and arrived in Brockworth at 10:00 a.m. We arrived two hours before the start of the cheese rolling, but we needed about 35 minutes to get to the race location. The first surprise of the day was the hike to Cooper’s Hill. Of all the videos viewed and articles I read about the race, there was no warning about massive hill you need to climb to get to the base of Cooper’s Hill. I recently started running again and I am glad I did, because the hill you need to climb to get to the base of Cooper’s Hill was pretty aggressive. At least for someone who doesn’t hike regularly.
Once at the top of the hill… which is the base of the peak of Cooper’s Hill we could clearly see that arriving an hour and a half before the the start of the cheese rolling was way too late to get good seats along the edge of the race course. I had my kids in tow so I couldn’t climb too far up the side of Cooper’s Hill as the edge of the course is as steep as the race course. We did find good seats eventually and we were able to enjoy the crazy and eccentric race.
The energy in the crowd for the cheese rolling was bright and vibrant. The crowd was friendly and supportive as everyone was standing on a slope and need to be slightly supporting of each other so we didn’t all go tumbling down the hillside. As the cheese races were starting the crowd began to chant “Cheese Cheese Cheese…” and my kids joined in loudly chanting “Cheese Cheese Cheese.” It was an engaging pulsating moment. As the crowd chanted and commentator yelled over the speaker system the first started. The cheese is sent hurling down the hillside at a speed that no human can match, but the participants hurl themselves down the hillside after it. The courage it takes to lunge yourself down a 200-yard near vertical hillside is beyond me. I have so much respect for people willing take their life in their own hands and live a full life.
However, as I stated, my downhill running days are far behind me. The cheese rolling race was an exciting experience that I hope to repeat someday in the future. As for recommending attending the cheese rolling race in person… I can only recommend it if you’re are pretty physical to be able to handle the uphill hike and can also handle possibly seeing running with reckless abandon that can lead to injuries. Overall it was a great experience and I am glad I can say I have seen it in person.
