One of England’s oldest and most popular annual competitions is not for the faint of heart — or the lactose intolerant.
Every year, people from around the world gather in Brockworth, England, for a series of competitions, each of which involves chasing a 7-pound Gloucester cheese wheel down a nearly vertical hill, according to The Associated Press. The first racer to finish behind the fast-rolling cheese in each race gets to keep it.
It’s harder and more dangerous than you might think. Few competitors manage to stay on their feet, and a recent rain made the hill so slippery and muddy that members of a local rugby club were positioned at the bottom of the hill to catch participants as they tumbled down the steep slope.
Tom Kopke, from Munich, Germany, took one of the three men’s races on Memorial Day. Local resident Josh Shepherd and Dylan Twiss, from Perth, Australia, won the other two. Abby Lampe, of North Carolina, won in the women’s race.