We’re smack dab in the middle of our theme week on Weird Festivals Around the World. The Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling festival takes place each spring near Gloucester, England. Participants race down a steep 200 yard-long hill, chasing after a 7-9 pound wheel of Double Gloucester cheese. The cheese can reach speeds of 70 mph, and because of the steepness and uneven terrain, there are usually a number of injuries. The first person to make it over the finish line at the bottom of the hill wins the cheese. It’s believed that people have been doing this crazy tradition for at least 600 years. It may have evolved from a requirement for maintaining grazing rights in the area. Or it may come from a pagan tradition of rolling bundles of burning brushwood down the hill to symbolize the birth of the New Year after winter. The current record-holder for most wins is a local gent named Chris Anderson, who has won an impressive 22 races. Learn more here.