Friday, May. 14, 2010
Cheese-Rolling Festival (Gloucestershire, England)
The premise of this British event is simple. Roll cheese wheel down hill. Chase. Be the first one to catch the cheese or cross the finish line. Win. Collect your prize: more cheese.
This festival for people who enjoy simple pleasures sounds harmless enough, but it's surprisingly dangerous: the slope of choice — Cooper's Hill in Gloucestershire — is quite steep, and rolling cheese can reach speeds of up to 70 m.p.h. (110 km/h). Sprained ankles and broken bones among competitors are not uncommon. Still, it's such a hit — drawing a crowd some 15,000 strong — that this year's event was actually canceled for fear that the site couldn't handle so many spectators.