The hugely popular and very dangerous Cooper’s Hill Cheese Chase in Gloucestershire, England has been held, an annual event possibly rooted in pagan fertility beliefs. It is so dangerous it is banned — after a fashion. The chief constable always issues a warning that the foolhardy cheese chasers who tumble down the steep 3 in 1 hill do so at their own risk. There are always some injuries but nothing recently like the 1993 toll of 15 people to hospital. Since the early 1800s the game is to run or fall down the 200-feet course to capture a 9 pound round of Double Gloucester Cheese. The cheese roll is a dangerous object at 110 km or so. The hill chase is said to have originated in pre-Christian chasing of firewood down the hill which was somehow related to fertility. Who knows.
