What do you see in the picture, what is happening, where are they, what do you think the story is here?
An annual event that is an old English tradition was held last week on a hill in Gloucestershire. The picture shows the competitors joining the event. They are chasing something down a steep hill.
Can you see what they are chasing? The small object is in the picture at the front.
The photo shows the annual cheese rolling event on Coopers Hill in Brockworth. A wheel of Double Gloucester cheese is rolled down the hill and after a one second start, runners chase it. The winner is the first person to cross the finish line at the bottom of the hill. The cheese can reach speeds of 70 mph and no one in the race ever actually catches the cheese, but the winner gets to take it home.
The annual event has been held for at least 500 years, possibly 600. No one really knows how it started . Some believe it was started to encourage a good harvest. It is thought when the event was first held, villagers would roll a burning wheel of wood and straw down the hill to celebrate the birth of a new year after winter. The round wheel of cheese may have replaced the wheel to represent the sun.
Historian Jean Jefferies, who has written the only book on the cheese rolling event, suggests the event might have been started even earlier, by Romans; "There was dancing around the maypole, tug of war, children's races on the hill, running races and wrestling. There were all sorts of games and competitions. I'd like to think it was the Romans because, as I understand, they would roll things down a hill as part of paganism."
The first written record of the event dates from 9th June 1836.
Today the cheese rolling competition is world famous. What started as a medieval English tradition for people living in the village, is today an event where hundreds of people from all over the world join in and thousands come to watch.
Why do you think it is so popular?
The winner this year was Tom Kopke from Germany. He travelled to Brockworth from Germany just for the race. Tom said after the race, "It's everyone's race and you have just got to give your best."
"It's everyone's race" - what does he mean?
There were seven races this year. Other winners were Niels from Netherlands, Alix from France, Jamie from England and Ariel from America.
What do you notice about these winners?
You could argue this this an old English tradition that should be for English runners only. Including runners from different countries is disrespectful to the tradition. How would you respond?
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