Picture Courtesy of Adam Wood
There were the usual four downhill races including the women's race, followed by one, disastrous "Non-Cheese" race.
Chris Anderson, now serving in "The Rifles", one of the two largest regiments in the British Army ... was unable to attend this year, he will have been disappointed, but other competitors may well have been relieved not to have to compete against him.
Due to warnings from the police, that have received much publicity around the world, directed to anyone who could be identified as being "connected" in some way with the Cheese Rolling, a substitute, plastic cheese was used this year, so a real cheese was not in fact rolled*.
This did not seem to matter to either contestants or spectators, but it was a failure as it just did not have the weight to roll properly! In the ladies race, one lady (not the winner) picked it up and carried it down to the finish line.
*Upon careful analysis of the movement of the cheese in the videos of the events, it appears that the "cheese" in the first event was significantly heaver than the ones used in subsequent races, it was the only "fast cheese" of the day, it also bounced a lot higher. There is a strong suspicion that this was a "real Cheese", the ones in the remaining races were made of foam plastic and were much slower, in most cases being passed by the contestants.
Police were in attendance in force, 4 police vehicles were deployed on the A46 at the intersection with Nuthill and the road up to Cooper's Hill was closed to all but residents vehicles.
There were, as usual, no reported incidents requiring police intervention at or around the event and spectators respected the private properties in the vicinity.
On a positive note the event was well attended with a large, good humored crowd of spectators who all enjoyed this excellent day out on Cooper's Hill.