Cooper’s Hill Cheese Roll is quintessentially British, delightfully silly and just a little bit dangerous. It is exactly what it sounds like, namely, a race where a cheese wheel is rolled down a steep hill and hundreds of people follow. Dating back centuries in Gloucestershire, it calls itself an extreme sport and, if you watch it for even a few seconds, it’s hard to say: what’s more extreme than throwing yourself off a hill in search of cheese? And what is more of a sport than a competition?
After a pandemic break, the cheese roll was held on Sunday for the first time in two years. But this year’s women’s champion hadn’t just waited long, she’d also traveled a lot.
Cheese sandwich champion Abby Lampe, 21, is originally from North Carolina and just graduated from NC State University. This was her first time in Gloucestershire. She just came for the cheese.
“Where are you from?” begins his post-race interview. “I’m from North Carolina,” replies a happy, earth-streaked Lampe. “And what brings you here?” asks the surprised interviewer. Lampe smiles, elated, clutching her prize. “The cheese rush!“
After Lampe’s college plans to study abroad were disrupted by the pandemic, he is now traveling around Europe until August and, of course, had to include a cheese-specific trip to Gloucestershire. She spoke with Sports Illustrated of his preparation, his victory and his plans for cheese.
This interview has been slightly edited for clarity and length.
Lampe is holding a wheel of cheese after winning the Cooper’s Hill Cheese Roll on Sunday in Gloucestershire, England.
Courtesy of Abby Lampe
Sports Illustrated: How did you first discover the cheese roll?
Abby Lamp: It certainly came from social media. It’s been a few years that I’ve known this, from YouTube compilations and whatnot. But this year it was raised again and I told my friends that I would.
YES: What made you say, OK, don’t just watch this, do I have to participate, do I have to be a cheese roll myself?
TO THE: It’s a funny thing. I love doing competitions, especially the dark ones: I did the Krispy Kreme Challenge [where participants eat a dozen donuts halfway through a five-mile race]. I am just a very competitive person. I grew up very competitively and knew it was something interesting and one of a kind, so I really wanted to participate and contribute to such an event.
SI: Have you prepared yourself for this? Or did you just think you’d go out and get on with it?
TO THE: Oh, I’m 100% prepared for this. I graduated from NC State as an Industrial and Systems Engineer and I think that’s one of the things that makes me want to be prepared for something like this. So, before leaving the US, I rolled down a hill: I went to Dorothea Dix Park, which is a local park near Raleigh, and rolled down some hills trying to figure out the best way to roll down a hill. hill. And I thought it was fun and all, but like, compared to Cooper’s Hill, it was light. There was no comparison. So I actually watched hours of movies in the week leading up to the cheese rush. Because I wanted to understand their strategies, where they started from and how they progressed.
Then, on Friday, I went to Gloucestershire, to Cooper’s Hill and took a test drive. I absolutely didn’t know what to expect. But this is Not what I expected. It was much deeper in person than it looks in videos or photos. So I did, and one of my friends was with me, and I slipped halfway up the hill and then I tripped and fell the rest of the way. I didn’t even go full speed, I didn’t want to, because I would have run into the metal casings with which they closed the hill and there were no rugby players there to stop me. Because at the competition they have rugby players to stop everyone.
SI: What have you learned? Or, I guess, what was the difference between shooting your first time at Dorothea Dix Park and watching a movie to do the final test run?
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TO THE: So, for much of the film, they stayed on their feet for a while. I’ve actually watched a lot of Flo Early videos – she’s the reigning champion for the women’s race, she’s won four times and I actually got to meet her on Sunday which was amazing. She introduced me to the cheese. So it was great. But I just learned that a lot of things, you can’t really control. From Friday to Sunday, I was like, Oh, can it be better? Can I get better? But it wasn’t that I was better; I just pulled a lot harder on Sunday.
SI: In the replay it seems like you part with the group pretty soon before it gets tight later on. There was a halfway point when you got it, Hey, can I win this?
TO THE: I had no idea where I was. I was just hoping to get off the hill. I realized I was rolling diagonally at some point, but I didn’t know how far, or kind, I didn’t have the perception of where I was in terms of the hill and how close I was to the finish line. I had no idea there was anyone this close to me. I was just doing my best.
SI: Are you covered in bruises right now?
TO THE: Actually, no. I have some bruises on my left leg, and then I have a couple of scrapes, very light scratches on my face, because I ate it there a couple of times. There was definitely some dirt in my teeth. But no, they’re no worse for wear, honestly. It is truly shocking.
Lampe loves the sweet taste of victory, especially when accompanied by delicious cheeses.
Courtesy of Abby Lampe
SI: Exactly, there were some real injuries, it seemed, and you as the winner came out unscathed!
TO THE: Yeah, one of the guys nearly broke his leg, I think. On Friday, during my test run, I am prone to ankle injuries: growing up, I played sports and sprained my ankle a lot. So on Friday I got a little bit of ankle tweak and was worried it would end as a break or a sprain in Sunday’s race. I actually asked my friend prematurely to bring me an ankle brace – I ordered one from Amazon and she will be visiting me in a few days, so I told her to bring it. But now I don’t need it anymore. So maybe she can give it back.
Editor’s Note: Injuries past cheese rollers have included bruised kidneys, concussions, and broken ankles.
SI: Did anything surprise you with the experience?
TO THE: Oh my God, yes, so many things. The hill, for one thing, was huge. It looked out over the whole town of Brockworth, Gloucestershire, and it was stunning. And you could see up the hill. People came up the hill to go and see the race, which was so interesting. There was just an insane amount of crowd and the atmosphere was incredible. They sang and shouted, “Cheese, cheese to cheese,” which was really funny. … And people, I didn’t expect them to be so nice after winning. Parents were asking for photos with their kids, and it was just like I was the king of the hill for a few hours, it was crazy. I’ve never had so many people asking me for photos before.
SI: How did people react to an American victory?
TO THE: There was no difference, really. There were Americans in the crowd and they were like, “We’re so proud of you; we cannot believe that an American has won ”. … And the people in North Carolina, my friends and family, are going crazy. They are so supportive and so proud. I’m just happy I won coming from North Carolina and the state of NC.
SI: And you can keep the cheese, right? [It’s a 9-pound wheel of Double Gloucester.]
TO THE: Oh yeah. I actually spent four hours today trying to figure out how to ship it – I went to four different places. I think shipping the cheese was the hardest part of the whole ordeal. Like, going down the hill took 15 seconds. But shipping the cheese was by far the most difficult experience.
SI: So he’s safely on his way to North Carolina now?
TO THE: Yes, it is, or I hope so. I got the shipping confirmation notes – the guy who sent it, I think he did it pretty well. He said he put it on as a personal item rather than a gift, so they won’t open it, and he put it as a cheese sample rather than a cheese wheel, which is so funny.
SI: Do you have big plans for this?
TO THE: Yes, we’ll do a cheese presentation with my family when I get back. I’m not back until August 31st, so it’s going to take a bit of a wait, but hopefully we’ll have a nice platter of charcuterie.