Most wins of a cheese-rolling race

The most wins of the Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake race, held annually in Gloucestershire, UK, is 23, by Chris Anderson (UK) between 2005 and 2022.

The tradition of chasing a double-gloucester cheese down the 180-m-long (590-ft) Cooper's Hill can be traced back to at least the early 1800s, although historians believe that the ceremony stretches back for hundreds of years, and may even have its roots in a pagan fertility ritual predating the Roman era. As Cooper's Hill is on common land, the rolling of a cheese down the precipitous incline also symbolically maintains the continuity of common grazing rights for locals. This explains why a cheese is rolled even if the race events are cancelled, as happened during the "foot and mouth" crisis of 2001 and the two-year lockdown as a result of COVID-19 in 2020–21.

Each year, there are at least four downhill events – the third of which is traditionally reserved for ladies – as well as uphill races and other familiy festivities. Injuries are common, as competitors hurl themselves down the 1:2 incline in pursuit of the 8-lb (3.6-kg) double-gloucester. To win the cheese, competitors must grab it or at least cross the finish line first.

Anderson, a former British Army soldier from Brockworth, the town at the foot of the hill, won his first cheese-rolling championship in 2005 at the age of 17. In the first race of the 2018 event, he equalled the record for most wins – 21, held by Stephen Gyde, also from Brockworth – before winning the fourth race of the day, taking him one clear. His 23rd win came in the first race of the 2022 event, after which he announced his retirement. "This is the 23rd and final time," he announced. "I was so scared beforehand."

The fastest chaser down Cooper's Hill in 2023, and winner of the second race, was Cooper Cummings, a coach from Nooksack Valley High School in Washington, USA, who finished in a record time of just 13 seconds. The winner of the ladies' race, Delaney Irving, from Nanaimo in British Columbia, crossed the finish line unconscious after suffering a head injury but recovered sufficiently to accept her cheese prize.