The Great Cheese Chase

Acrylic on panel

18″ x 24″

The Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling is an annual event in Brockworth, England, where participants race down a 200-yard grassy hill chasing a 7 lb wheel of Double Gloucester cheese. At a slope of 26.6 degrees, the participants tumble after the cheese more than chase it. The positions depicted in the painting are taken from video footage of a race.

Unsurprisingly, injuries are common. The winner of the 2023 women’s race, Delaney Irving from Nanaimo, BC learnt of her win after waking from a concussion in the medical tent. 

This year’s winner (2025) of the women’s race, Ava from London, remarked that she doesn’t actually like cheese. And the winner of the third men’s race, Byron from New Zealand, is quoted at the bottom of the hill saying, “I’m in a lot of pain.”

The race is at least a couple centuries old but the origins are unknown.