This year was no exception: Delaney Irving was crowned the winner of the women’s cheese-rolling race on Monday — but the 19-year-old Canadian woman didn’t actually realize she’d won the competition until she regained consciousness in the medical tent soon after.
“How are you? You’ve had a hell of a time,” said a British interviewer he asked Irving regained consciousness shortly after hitting her head. Irving replied: “Did I?”
In the comments to the BBCShe said the event was “good…I remember it now.”
The teenager was one of hundreds of racers chasing the cheese — a seven-pound full-fat hard cheese named “Double Gloucester” — made by a local cheesemaker from pasteurized or unpasteurized cow’s milk. Cheese can reach speeds of 70 to 80 miles per hour as it tumbles down the hill Gloucestershire Outlets. Rugby players wait at the foot of the hill to catch people as they crash across the finish line.
Recorded footage of Irving shows her growing success – along with her expensive cheese curds. She celebrated by raising the wheel above her head to cheers from the crowd.
This tradition is believed to be one of the oldest customs, according to the website for modern cheese-roll organizers. Survived in Britain. A site for the town says its first written evidence is found in a message sent to the town crier in 1826.
It brings visitors from all over the world.
2020 Netflix Documentary People don’t know about the “unique, weird and wacky” competition – the cheese roll has been called “the world’s most dangerous footrace”. The species has been described by the British media “crazy” A stall describes those who run down the hill in the name of cheese “Gouda Control.”
Irving’s mother, Krista Endrisi, said Canada’s Global News Television Network reported that her daughter went to the hospital for a check-up after she fell.
“I said, ‘Go to the hospital. I love you. You’re crazy. And I love you,'” Endrisi said, adding that Irving “looked like a rag doll” in video footage of the fall. “But she’s fine, and that’s all that matters.”
The betting rules are simple. Admission is free. Participants must gather at the top of the hill before the race begins. The first person to cross the line wins and keeps the cheese.
But competition, Often named A “serious sport” is not for the faint of heart. Injuries Includes from past races Damaged kidneysSevere concussions, broken bones, sprained ankles and dislocated joints.
“Some win, some finish and many get hurt,” website for the race saidLast year’s race resulted in “several fractures, sprains and minor injuries”.
Irving was not the only foreign visitor to the event. An American dressed as George Washington attended a pageant on Monday with a friend who dressed as the first president, local media reported. reported. The pair’s day took a dramatic turn when one of the George Washingtons broke a leg racing downhill.
In addition to the risks to people, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) also raised concerns about the risks to animals. Ahead of the race, they urged the event’s organizers to replace local dairy with vegan cheese. Animal charity said The traditional double Gloucester wheel was “created by draining liquid from the bottom of an unwilling Gloucester cow” and urged the cheese-rolling competition to “switch to vegan cheese”, a move they said would be “better for cows and the planet”, while making the race itself “more inclusive”.
