The winners of the 2023 Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake are Matt Crolla, Cooper Cummings, Delaney Irving, and Ryoya Minami. It was a rather fraught race this year, as no police or paramedics were present on-site.
Six people had to be transported to the hospital following the event, and authorities reported numerous less severe injuries among the participants. One of the winners, Delaney Irving, was knocked unconscious by a severe concussion and found out about her win in the medical tent.
This all goes to emphasize what a dangerous sport cheese-rolling is. Not even the spectators are safe–be it from high-speed cheese hurtling into them or from the stampeding racers. It was even canceled in 2009, but was independently continued by citizens. So why do people keep doing it?
The first, obvious answer is that it’s downright hilarious. People from all over the world, converging on this one hill for the sole reason of chasing down a wheel of cheese? Priceless.
The second answer is that cheese-rolling is an old tradition. The first written evidence of it that we have is 1826, and even then it had still been around for a long time. Some estimate it might go back as far as six hundred years, and it’s believed to have roots in pagan traditions (like eighty percent of all fun British things).
Either way, cheese-rolling isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Rest assured that no matter the measures authorities take to prevent it, people will continue falling down hills for cheese, tradition, and fun for years to come.