Extreme Cheese-rolling?

Ok, I think we've established that the Brits love their cheese--as do we. But I was still bemused a few weeks ago when I heard about the annual cheese-rolling day in the village of Stilton. And yes, they roll Stilton. Here's a few pictures from this year's event--more at the link above.




Now I was quite sad we missed this grand event and remarked to KT we should try to attend next year. So I was even more annoyed last night when I read a paper and realized we had missed another cheese-rolling event this past bank holiday Monday: the annual cheese-roll in Gloucestershire. Making the Stilton event look rather sedate, this is apparently the granddaddy of cheese-rolls, the equivalent of the running of the bulls in Pamplona. It's cheese-rolling meets the X games as hundreds of people chase a wheel of double Gloucester cheese down a steep hill.

Here's a video from this year (will launch a YouTube window)

Every year this cheese-roll produces many "cheese casualities", some quite serious. The papers remarked that this year's tally of 20 injured was remarkably low. Past winners have suffered broken arms.

Here's a winner of one of this year's races, holding his cheese, getting medical attention

Next year's roll is May 26--book your airline tickets now! (Beer festival and cheese-rolling combined?)

--jt