The cheese currently used in the event is 7-9 lb. Double Gloucester, a hard cheese traditionally made in a wheel shape.[10] Each is protected for the rolling by a wooden casing round the side and is decorated with ribbons at the start of the race. Formerly, three cheeses were presented by parishioners, and the cheeses were usually rolled by them. A collection is usually made now to purchase Due to the steepness and uneven surface of the hill there are usually a number of injuries. A first aid service is provided by the local St John Ambulance (Gloucester, Cheltenham and Stroud Divisions) at the bottom of the hill, with a volunteer rescue group on hand to carry down to them any casualties who do not end up at the bottom through gravity. A number of ambulance vehicles attend the event, since there is invariably at least one, and often several injuries requiring hospital treatment. Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling has been summarised as "twenty young men chasing a cheese off a cliff and tumbling 200 yards to the bottom, where they are scraped up by paramedics and packed off to hospital."[12]
The race of 2005 was delayed while the ambulances returned from the hospital, all of them having been required to transport casualties from previous races.[citation needed] Nevertheless, it was one of the most popular events in recent years, with many more participants than were able to run in the four races.[citation needed]