Dozens chase cheese wheel down steep hill in Britain

BROCKWORTH, England, May 31 (UPI) -- Brave Britons tripped over each other to chase a wheel of cheese down a steep hill for the annual Cheese Rolling race.

The event Monday at Cooper's Hill in Brockworth, England, featured multiple rounds of competitors dashing down the 1:2 gradient hill in pursuit of an 8-pound wheel of Double Gloucester cheese.

Chris Anderson, 28, won two of Monday's races, racking up his 16th and 17th all-time Cheese Rolling victories.

Anderson, a Brockworth native, dedicated his performance to a recently deceased friend.

"My friend Izzy John sadly passed away recently so this is for him and his family. He won it multiple times," he told the BBC. "Cheese rolling is really important to Brockworth. It got canceled in 2009 and the organizers this year have done a brilliant job and I'm really happy to win it for the community."

Barney Perenyei, a native of Hungary who has lived in England for 11 years, said the race was enjoyable even without a victory.

"My friend asked if I wanted to go Cheese Rolling and I thought 'yeah, why not?'" Perenyei told the Gloucester Citizen. "I just went for it, lost control and got kicked a few times in the face on my way down. I feel like half of my face is bruised and people tell me I'm bleeding but it was fun."