Every year, thousands from all over the world gather atop Cooper's Hill in the normally quiet and peaceful village of Brockworth, Gloucestershire in England, to chase a rolling wheel of cheese as it rapidly descends down a dizzyingly steep decline.

Participants risk cuts, bruises, ripped clothes and sometimes even broken bones to be the first person down the hill to claim the prize...a wheel of cheese.

I'm a Dublin-based editor who can't visit a place without raving about it for weeks afterwards. Happiest on a sunlit terrace, munching on something delicious and watching the world go by.

The event is called Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling and is considered one of the UK's most extreme downhill races. There are no cash prizes or trophy to be won, instead you take part for fun (and to take home the cheese wheel).

Some people bounce down the hill, others tumble or run or roll down as fast as gravity will carry them, with first-aiders and ambulances waiting below.

The traditional Cheese Rolling man (pictured above) in his white coat and black hat, is present every year to start the race.

It's believed the first Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling took place at least 500 years ago to mark the beginning of summer

The event takes place every May and features seven races in total. Tom Kopke from Germany, pictured here with his wheel of Double Gloucester and scratched arm, is one of this year's winners.

Maybe we'll see you there next year?

Photography credits: Rupert Allen, Daisy-Mai Crossman, and Millie Evans

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