Gloucestershire Cheese Rolling 2026: Britain Loses Its Own Craziest Tradition to International Competitors

Out of the many fine British traditions that have inexplicably failed to take off outside of the country, cheese-rolling stands tall and proud – or possibly lands flat and painfully depending on whether you are a competitor or simply a spectator. The 2026 cheese-rolling championship has just taken place in the county of Gloucestershire (Cooper's Hill to be exact) and – as an event like this warrants – naturally made that evenings national 10 o’clock news.  Well it would, wouldn’t it?  Yet chasing a large wheel of cheese down a very steep hill isn’t just for Brits – apparently.

This year, both male and female winners were from abroad (I believe they are referred to as “Johnny Foreigners” in some drinking establishements in some parts of the country by some people).  The men’s race was won by Tom Kopke from Germany, whose sanity is no longer in any doubt because he’s won it three times altogether (including this year).  After all, you can’t be mad if you have won something so often… can you? I’m personally intrigued about what training he must do to prepare for the 1:2 gradient slope and how he decides which direction down to take in pursuit of the 3kg wheel of Double Gloucester cheese which can get up to 70mph in speed.  Sane or not, he certainly blitzed the competition again. Ah... is that too soon?

Alice Hougault from France won the more genteel (OK, that’s not the right adjective) women’s race, meaning that no British folk were able to out-compete the international competitors.  As one commenter on YouTube has declared with tongue ever so slightly in cheek: “Bloody German coming over here and winning our cheese rolling competition.”  Another, rather more despondently pointed out: “If we cant even win this, how are we going to win the world cup?”.  I have to include this last one – “I camembert the thought of losing to a German. I bet everyone were cheesed off and couldn't brielieve their eyes.”

So, over to the very serious news report from the BBC…