Canadian Mark Kit tasted victory in Gloucester, England on Monday — and it probably tasted like cheese and grass.
The 21-year-old from Toronto won the annual Cooper’s Hill cheese-rolling competition in his first-ever attempt, rolling past dozens of competitors in pursuit of a dinner plate-sized wheel of Gloucester cheese.
Video shows Kit tumbling down the hill shoulder over shoulder and head over heels to cross the finish line well ahead of his opponents.
The prize? Lifelong bragging rights and whatever cheese-related title he might want to give himself.
The unusual race is a spring bank-holiday tradition in Gloucester, where hundreds gather to throw themselves down a 45-degree slope in pursuit of the town’s signature cheese. Competitors are allowed to run down the hill but most choose to roll like the cheese they’re chasing.
Kit won one of several men’s races down the hill. Women and children also chased the cheese in separate heats.
The cheese-rolling competition draws thousands of spectators and inspires nearly as many cheesy puns each year. It also causes the odd sprain, broken bone or concussion.
British racer Max McDougall, who won a separate race on Monday, said he was happy to improve on his disappointing performance from last year.
“I knocked myself out,” he told BBC News.
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Cheese-chasing champion Chris Anderson, who has won 22 times, did not participate in Monday’s event.