A woman was knocked unconscious while running down a hill to chase a 3kg (7lb) cheese wheel, but still managed to win her race at the bank holiday event.
🧀 Canadian 🇨🇦 Delaney Irving won’t remember much of winning the Woman’s race at #cheeserolling.
— Greatest Hits Radio Gloucester (@GHRGloucester) May 29, 2023
After being knocked out on her way down, she was unconscious for a period of time but told us it was all worth it.
⚠️ WARNING: Contains graphic images pic.twitter.com/yxwk0YaGUE
Video footage posted on social media showed Delaney Irving falling while pursuing the double gloucester down the almost-vertical Coopers Hill in Brockworth, near Gloucester.
Irving, 19, said she only realised she had won the women’s race when she woke up in the medical tent.
Hundreds of people took part in the contest, which went ahead this year despite safety concerns.
Irving, from Vancouver Island in Canada, told the BBC she was not cheesed off by what had happened, and said the race was “good … now that I remember it”.
“I remember running, then bumping my head, and then I woke up in the tent. I still don’t really believe it, but it feels great,” she said.
Several races were held over the day and Matt Crolla, 28, from Manchester, won the first. Asked how he prepared, he acknowledged: “I don’t think you can train for it, can you? It’s just being an idiot.”
Crolla added: “I’m glad I’m pretty conscious and I’ve not got many serious injuries.”
Another big cheese was Ryoya Minami from Japan, who was among the winners. Asked why he entered the race, he replied: “Because I love cheese.”
Kyla Hill of Team Cheese, the group of volunteers who help organise the event, said other competitors had come from the US and Switzerland to participate.
“It puts us [Brockworth village] on the map, makes us a bit famous, draws people in from over the world,” Hill said. “I was talking to a couple last night who’d come over from Washington especially.”
The event was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid pandemic.