Yep, you read that right.
On May 26th 2013, the annual Cooper’s Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake took place in Britain.
Now, I myself am a HUGE fan of cheese and I am slowly developing a relationship with physical fitness to the point where I could say that I do love running (well, maybe I tolerate running 🙂 ) But I have never heard of a contest where you put the two together!
So, I decided to research this a bit more thanks to the help of Buzz Feed.
Once a year, people from all around the world gather to watch this mystifying event that is only about 2 minutes long at the very most.
Participants of the race crawl up to the top of an extremely steep hill called Cooper’s Hill and literally sprint back down the slope in the hopes to catch a cheese wheel.
However, this cheese is not just any type of cheese. Oh, no sir. This particular wheel is hand crafted by a sixty-eight year old woman named Diane Smart who has made the annual 7lb Double Gloucester cheese wheel for thirty five years. (Which if you consider how important this tradition is to the people of Britain, then this is a very prestigious job)
According to the article the reigning champion was a man named Chris Anderson who has won this race six times! But now, the current champion is a Colorado Springs native Kenny Rackers who not only trained for months prior to this event in order to be ready for the race but wore an American Flag jumpsuit to run the race in.
Now THAT is some “‘Merica” spirit.
It takes determination and strength to push through the hard times and overcome any doubts or low point that may cross your path. But what truly inspires me in people is the heart and passion to try and achieve a dream.
Where I am in life, everyone around me seems to be looking at the future with a fully detailed road map of planned stops and the destination of a career or trying to find their compass so they can go a mile without feeling that they walking forward in the dark.
It’s refreshing to see that there are public events in different parts of the world where finding joy in an achievement is sprinting down a hill to catch a wheel of cheese.
I’m sitting at my desk expending so much energy worrying about if I can make a good grade on a test and doubting whether I have enough skill or the ability to remember all that I need to know. But, if a young man in a red, white, and blue jumpsuit had enough drive and self motivation to fly 4,600 miles to win a cheese wheel then I definitely have the ability to study hard and take on the tasks before me knowing that I’m doing everything I can to do my best.
Who knows, maybe one day I’ll be able to witness Kenny Rackers sprint down Cooper’s Hill and thank him for being a great example of how goals can be achieved if you have the drive inside you to reach them.
P.S Copy and paste this link so you can see the story and the videos of the famous cheese race 🙂
http://www.buzzfeed.com/angrysoups/an-all-american-hero-just-won-the-gloucestershire-avsv
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