There was football from Wembley, motor racing from Monaco and tennis from Paris over the bank holiday weekend.
But, arguably, the craziest thrills and spills took place on an unfeasibly steep hill in Gloucestershire as an international field took part in the annual cheese-rolling race.
The helterskelter tumble down Cooper’s Hill, near Brockworth, in pursuit of a wheel of Double Gloucester cheese has been staged for decades, possibly centuries.
Now it attracts competitors and spectators from across the globe and such is the international appeal that the BBC livestreamed the races, sometimes having to apologise for the ripe language that was almost inevitable at such an adrenaline-fuelled event.
Among the competitors this year was the American YouTuber and rapper IShowSpeed, who took part in the first men’s race. He was just off the pace and suffered a leg injury that he said would need a trip to the hospital. Asked if he would be back, he said: “Hell, yes.”
The winner of the race was Tom, from Germany. “England is mad,” he said. “I love it. I’m buzzing.” An Australian, Dylan Twiss, won the second men’s race, beating a Brit, Ollie – dressed as a gorilla, but losing his costume’s head and feet on the way down. Ollie said he had gone into the sort of “flow state” you sometimes achieved in yoga during his rapid descent. When asked if he had any tactics, race winner Dylan said, “when I could get my feet down. Push”.
The rules are simple. You chase the cheese, which is given a start of a few seconds and is said to roll down the hill at about 70mph. First to the bottom – the humans apparently get up to more than 30mph – wins the cheese. Conditions were pretty good this year: a little rain made the surface greasy and soft, and the sun shone.
Unusually, there was a false start in the women’s race. One woman tumbled all the way down the 200-yard (183m) hill only to find out she hadn’t won any cheese at all.
A past winner, Abby Lampe, from North Carolina, won again when the race was re-started. Asked what her technique was, she said: “You just have to roll.” She said she was feeling a little pain, “but it’s going to be temporary”. In second place was a woman in a union flag top who had taken a sickie off work to be there.
The origin of the competition is unknown. Some believe it came from claiming grazing rights on the common and land around Cooper’s Hill; others think it could have been a fertility ritual.
An estimated 5,000 people attended to watch this year’s madcap event and scores took part, though, as is traditional, it was declared unsafe by the Tewkesbury borough safety advisory group.
Gloucestershire constabulary’s assistant chief constable, Arman Mathieson, said: “We are advising those who intend to attend or participate in the cheese rolling to consider the risk they might be putting themselves at.”
The organising committee has a medical tent, and a line of rugby players catch the rollers at the foot of the hill; no very serious injuries were reported.
It was a long wait, but the fourth and final men’s downhill race was won by a local hero, Josh Shepherd. It was the second time he had won a race, the last time being in 2014. He doesn’t much like cheese, but he loved the reception from the crowd.
