It can’t be easy to master a racing style that involves stumbling, rolling, flipping and sliding–but German YouTuber Tom Kopke seems to have nailed the formula.
On Monday, the U.K.’s highly-anticipated and very wacky annual event, the Gloucester Cheese Rolling race, finally arrived, drawing thousands of spectators and daredevils chasing the grand prize: a three-kilogram wheel of Double Gloucester cheese. And for the second consecutive year, 23-year-old Kopke came out on top.
“I worked for this,” he said after the race, showing off his cuts, bruises and scrapes. “I risked my life for this. It’s my cheese.”
“It was crazy,” Kopke told local media. “This year was different. Last year, the hill was muddy and safe. This year it was dry and dangerous, and people got injured. I shut off my brain and went for it. All the people at the top said they were going to steal my title but this is mine.”
The event takes place on Cooper’s Hill in Gloucestershire, a 200-yard (182.88m) hill with a 50 per cent gradient. It featured eight races, in the men’s, women’s, kids’ and uphill categories. Local competitor Luke Preece and Byron Smith of New Zealand won the second and third men’s races, respectively, while 20-year-old Ava Sender Logan of London took the women’s title.
From ultras to cheese rolling races
For his YouTube channel, Kopke regularly takes on outrageous physical challenges, including a feat in March where he ran five marathons in five days. Last month, he completed his first ultra, the gruelling Marathon des Sables 100K, finishing in 31 hours, 57 minutes and 53 seconds.
The cheese-rolling race, while quirky and beloved around the world, is no joke. Chasers can hit speeds of up to 110km/h, and each year brings serious injuries–broken bones, concussions and racers being knocked unconscious. According to the Daily Mail, one participant in the first race was stretchered off the hill and airlifted to hospital.
Due to safety concerns, the official Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake–first held as early as 1826–was cancelled in 2010. It’s been running unofficially ever since.
