Woman wins cheese rolling race despite being knocked unconscious on the way down: 'Feels great'

Delaney Irving, of Nanaimo, British Columbia, won the cheese rolling race on May 29. The win is even more special as Irving won the race after going unconscious for some time. The rules of the race are as follows: a 7-pound wheel of cheese is tossed from a hill and the first runner to finish behind the cheese gets to keep it. Hundreds of people gather on this day to watch the fascinating and rare sport, which has been taking place for two years now, reported My Modern Met. This race took place in the United Kingdom and Irving won the woman's race. The 19-year-old was backpacking across Europe when she decided to be a part of the race. “At the very top [of the hill], I was just thinking, wow, am I going to do this?” she told CBC.

When she woke up she had a large piece of cheese in her lap. ”I still don't really believe it, but it feels great,” she said. She was fine but was taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure. The annual Cooper’s Hill Cheese Roll race took place in Brockworth village, near Gloucester. According to Visit Gloucester, "Now officially an extreme sport, Cheese-rolling has competitors heading to Gloucester from all over the world. The Cooper’s Hill Cheese Roll is an annual race held at Cooper's Hill, near Brockworth, Gloucester. It attracts people from around the globe who come to chase a Double Gloucester cheese down the 200-yard-long hill."

The website adds, "Cooper’s Hill in Brockworth is near vertical with a 1:2 gradient and is 200 yards long. The cheese used is 3–4-kilogram Double Gloucester, a hard cheese traditionally made in a circular shape- the cheese is made by local Cheesemaker Mrs. Smart. Each is protected for the rolling by a wooden casing round the side, and is decorated with ribbons at the start of the race." Team Cheese's volunteers help in organizing the competition. “It puts us [Brockworth village] on the map, makes us a bit famous, draws people in from over the world,” Kyla Hill of Team Cheese said. “I was talking to a couple last night who’d come over from Washington especially.”

As for other winners of the race, Ryoya Minami from Japan shared why he participated in the race: “Because I love cheese.” Matt Crolla, from Manchester, who also won a race, stated, “I’m glad I’m pretty conscious and I’ve not got many serious injuries.” As for Delaney, she's recovering from the minor blows she suffered but cherishes the memory. “I'm definitely sore. I've got a lot of bruises. I think next year I just want to watch. I just remember hitting my head, I remember hurting, and then I remember waking up in the tent," Irving told Greatest Hits Radio Gloucester. The outlet tweeted of Irving's win, "Irving won't remember much of winning."