This 21-year-old has just become the first Dutchman to win the Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling race in Gloucester, England, infamous for being one of the world’s most unhinged sporting events.
Niels Wennemars, son of former speed skater Erben Wennemars and brother of current speed skater Joep Wennemars, spotted the event on his social media feed and decided to go for it.
His reasoning, of course, is typisch Nederlands: “We are the land of cheese, after all.”
What even is cheese rolling?
Helaas, there’s no witty wordplay here, and cheese rolling is exactly what it sounds like.
Every year on the spring bank holiday, competitors hurl themselves down a brutally steep hill in pursuit of a rolling wheel of Double Gloucester cheese. The first person to reach the bottom wins and gets to take the cheese home.
Given that the cheese is a circular object rolling downhill, it often reaches speeds that make catching it essentially impossible.
The event dates back to 1836, according to the BBC, and was never really “official” in any formal sense, but has exploded in global popularity in recent years.
(In a large part, thanks to the kind of chaotic, spectacular footage that thrives on social media. See Exhibit A below!)
“I’m a god here”
Wennemars says he went in with an actual strategy, which is more than most entrants can claim.
“Everyone starts fast, but then halfway, they can no longer keep up with their upper body using their legs,” he tells NOS. “If you maintain a certain pace over the entire hill, you stay upright as long as possible.”
He also credits his athletic background and, in his own words, the fact that he’s “not easily scared.”
Well, whatever it is, it clearly worked. Wennemars crossed the finish line with a somersault and was promptly met with the kind of local celebrity treatment that only a cheese-rolling champion can receive.
“I’m a god here!” he exclaimed, with a laugh. “I’ve already had my picture taken with people 200 times, without exaggeration. And when I walk around with this cheese, I get free drinks everywhere.”
The cheese is coming home
Wennemars’ prize (a wheel of Double Gloucester) is now heading back to the Netherlands with him.
“It is perfect, exactly how I like it,” Wennemars tells NOS. “And it is quite big, so I would like to share it with family and friends.”
And Wennemars wasn’t the only winner on the day. The men’s category has several races, and German competitor Tom Kopke (a multi-year champion) also took a win in the men’s category.
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Image: Dave Farrance/Wikimedia Commons/CC3.0
