A 200-year-old British tradition has been cancelled - the annual cheese
rolling race in Gloucestershire has been put on hiatus because the event has
gotten too big.
"The attendance at the event has far outgrown the location where it has
traditionally been held for several hundred years," organizers of the
Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling and Wake said on their website.
The hill where the event is held can accommodate 2,000 people. Last year,
police estimated 15,000 tried to watch the race.
"We have had to cancel on the advice of the police and local authorities
this year because of the issues of health and safety and other aspects,"
Richard Jefferfies, one of the organizers, told the U.K.'s Daily Mail
newspaper. "As well as concerns about the safety of the crowd and the
competitors, local landowners were also worried by the amount of damage done
by people climbing over fences and that sort of thing."
Although the event has attracted tourists for several years, the group says
they didn't want to expand the event because "it's a local event at a very
old site."
As for future races, instead of coming to see the event, they recommend
people stay home and watch an Internet webcast.
Disappointed visitors responded to the news on the group's website. On
Friday, one woman wrote, "We're coming from Australia in May and top of the
list on our itinerary was to attend the cheese rolling in my home country,
being born and raised in Bristol."
Another man wrote, "Dreadfully disappointed with the news. As a cheeseroller
of many years, I look forward to the chance to really injure myself each
year. I have no idea how I'll hurt myself this year now."
The organizers say they are working with local authorities and police to
control numbers and they hope to bring the event back next year in a revised
form.
