{"id":1691,"date":"2024-05-28T07:00:19","date_gmt":"2024-05-28T11:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.alumni.ncsu.edu\/?p=1691"},"modified":"2024-05-30T08:58:40","modified_gmt":"2024-05-30T12:58:40","slug":"chasing-the-cheese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/2024\/chasing-the-cheese\/","title":{"rendered":"Chasing the Cheese"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">There are few sporting contests around the world that can match the oddity and utter brutality of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitgloucester.co.uk\/things-to-do\/history-and-heritage\/cheese-rolling-in-gloucester\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cooper\u2019s Hill Cheese Rolling<\/a>, an annual event near the English town of Gloucester. Contestants are warned that they enter at their own risk, and broken bones are a common occurrence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-default\">Yet every year for generations, dozens of people have shown up for the chance to chase a disk of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cheese.com\/double-gloucester\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Double Gloucester cheese<\/a> down a 200-yard hill that is so steep contestants inevitably end up rolling and bouncing most of the way down. In recent years, the event has become a cult favorite on YouTube and was featured in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt12409154\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2020 Netflix documentary series<\/a> on extreme and quirky competitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of its most ardent fans is Abby Lampe \u201922, who graduated from NC&#160;State in May with a degree in industrial systems engineering. She has seen the Netflix series and watched countless hours of videos of the race, all with the dream of one day entering it herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Sunday, Lampe\u2019s dream was fulfilled. Not only did she compete, Lampe won the women\u2019s event. And she did so without suffering any major injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI have a few bruises on my left leg and some scratches, and possibly some burst blood vessels on my hand,\u201d Lampe, 21, said in an interview from Gloucester just hours after her win, believed to be the first by an American female. \u201cThey&#8217;re very minor injuries, so I can still walk and talk. It was very muddy, so I had mud in my teeth, actually. I also think I chipped a little bit of a tooth.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And what did Lampe win for her efforts? &#8220;I won the cheese,\u201d she says. \u201cNo money. Just bragging rights and an 8-pound block of Double Gloucester cheese.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"US woman rolls her way to victory in BRUTAL cheese rolling contest in the UK\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/m2QowBcLoB4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Watch Abby Lampe &#8217;22 roll her way to victory during the 2022 Cooper&#8217;s Hill Cheese Rolling.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Lampe is spending the summer in Europe before she starts work in October as a technology consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Charlotte, N.C. She\u2019s spending much of her time in Spain, but she came prepared for the cheese rolling. While packing for the trip, she included knee pads from her days playing basketball and volleyball as a kid to wear as protective gear during the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Growing up in Smithfield, N.C., Lampe also played soccer and did gymnastics as a kid, and she was a regular participant in intramural sports at NC&#160;State. \u201cThat\u2019s what made me so agile and flexible, honestly,\u201d Lampe says. \u201cI\u2019m pretty bendy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to studying videos on YouTube to see how contestants attacked the hill, Lampe visited Dorothea Dix Park near campus in the weeks leading up to her trip to practice rolling down its hills. It turned out that they weren\u2019t nearly steep enough to replicate the experience on Cooper\u2019s Hill. It was so steep, she says, that she had to hold on to the ground to keep from accidentally rolling down in the moments before the race began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cVideos and photos do not do it any justice,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a very steep hill. There\u2019s a very large initial drop and then it\u2019s very bumpy with a lot of uneven surfaces.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lampe\u2019s preparation included visiting the site two days before the race so she could take a practice run, a move that convinced her to buy gloves to protect her hands. And on race day, she studied a couple of men\u2019s races before her event. She noticed that both winners began from the left side, as you look down the hill, so she made sure to secure the outside spot on the left when it was her time to line up for the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1125\" height=\"1500\" src=\"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/IMG_3843-edited.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1701\" srcset=\"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/IMG_3843-edited.jpeg 1125w, https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/IMG_3843-edited-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/IMG_3843-edited-768x1024.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1125px) 100vw, 1125px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Abby Lampe &#8217;22 beginning her descent from the left side of the hill.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs an engineer, one of my core values is to be prepared and understand what I\u2019m getting myself into,\u201d she says. \u201cMaybe this was not the smartest idea, but I wanted to be prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Even so, Lampe couldn\u2019t control everything about the race. \u201cI knew I was going to fall down at some point, but I didn\u2019t expect to fall down so early and just keep rolling,\u201d she says. \u201cI could feel my face getting smushed in by the hill. I just wanted to get to the bottom of the hill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so she did, ahead of all the other competitors. In videos from the event, Lampe is beaming as she holds up her winning cheese. Her face and clothes, including a black NC&#160;State sweatshirt, are splattered with mud. \u201cI really wanted to represent NC&#160;State,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-ncst-image-grid\">\n<section class=\"wp-block-ncst-image-column\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"720\" height=\"960\" src=\"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/IMG_3806.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1697\" srcset=\"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/IMG_3806.jpeg 720w, https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/IMG_3806-225x300.jpeg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 720px) 100vw, 720px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Abby Lampe &#8217;22 in a Gloucester pub Sunday night.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<p>Lampe plans to ship the cheese home to her parents, who now live in Clayton, N.C., and enjoy it with family and friends when her trip to Europe ends later this summer. She says the race exceeded her expectations, and she hasn\u2019t ruled out defending her title next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s so surreal,\u201d she says. \u201cI went out to the pubs in Gloucester last night, and everyone bought me drinks. Ladies wanted to take pictures with me and the cheese, which I brought with me. I\u2019m still on cloud nine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-ncst-buttons\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-ncst-button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=m2QowBcLoB4\" class=\"btn btn-play ncst-block__button-link\" data-ncst-lightbox=\"video\" data-ua-cat=\"Button Block\" data-ua-action=\"Button Click\" data-ua-label=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=m2QowBcLoB4\"><span class=\"text\">Watch Abby&#8217;s race<\/span><span class=\"arrow-indicator\">\n<svg class=\"wp-block-ncst-wolficon wolficon\" role=\"img\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><use xlink:href=\"#wolficon-play\"\/><\/svg>\n<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false,"raw":"<!-- wp:ncst\/dynamic-header {\"block\":\"ncst\/side-by-side-header\"} -->\n<!-- wp:ncst\/side-by-side-header {\"focalPoint\":{\"x\":\"0.40\",\"y\":\"0.55\"},\"subtitle\":\"Years of preparation pay off as Abby Lampe \u201922 becomes the first American female to win England\u2019s annual \u201ccheese rolling\u201d event, a brutal downhill race near Gloucester.\"} \/-->\n<!-- \/wp:ncst\/dynamic-header -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph {\"className\":\"is-style-lead\"} -->\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">There are few sporting contests around the world that can match the oddity and utter brutality of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitgloucester.co.uk\/things-to-do\/history-and-heritage\/cheese-rolling-in-gloucester\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Cooper\u2019s Hill Cheese Rolling<\/a>, an annual event near the English town of Gloucester. Contestants are warned that they enter at their own risk, and broken bones are a common occurrence.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph {\"className\":\"is-style-default\"} -->\n<p class=\"is-style-default\">Yet every year for generations, dozens of people have shown up for the chance to chase a disk of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cheese.com\/double-gloucester\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Double Gloucester cheese<\/a> down a 200-yard hill that is so steep contestants inevitably end up rolling and bouncing most of the way down. In recent years, the event has become a cult favorite on YouTube and was featured in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt12409154\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2020 Netflix documentary series<\/a> on extreme and quirky competitions.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>One of its most ardent fans is Abby Lampe \u201922, who graduated from NC State in May with a degree in industrial systems engineering. She has seen the Netflix series and watched countless hours of videos of the race, all with the dream of one day entering it herself.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>On Sunday, Lampe\u2019s dream was fulfilled. Not only did she compete, Lampe won the women\u2019s event. And she did so without suffering any major injuries.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\u201cI have a few bruises on my left leg and some scratches, and possibly some burst blood vessels on my hand,\u201d Lampe, 21, said in an interview from Gloucester just hours after her win, believed to be the first by an American female. \u201cThey're very minor injuries, so I can still walk and talk. It was very muddy, so I had mud in my teeth, actually. I also think I chipped a little bit of a tooth.\"<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>And what did Lampe win for her efforts? \"I won the cheese,\u201d she says. \u201cNo money. Just bragging rights and an 8-pound block of Double Gloucester cheese.\"<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:embed {\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=m2QowBcLoB4\",\"type\":\"video\",\"providerNameSlug\":\"youtube\",\"responsive\":true,\"className\":\"wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=m2QowBcLoB4\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Watch Abby Lampe '22 roll her way to victory during the 2022 Cooper's Hill Cheese Rolling.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:embed -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Lampe is spending the summer in Europe before she starts work in October as a technology consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Charlotte, N.C. She\u2019s spending much of her time in Spain, but she came prepared for the cheese rolling. While packing for the trip, she included knee pads from her days playing basketball and volleyball as a kid to wear as protective gear during the race.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Growing up in Smithfield, N.C., Lampe also played soccer and did gymnastics as a kid, and she was a regular participant in intramural sports at NC State. \u201cThat\u2019s what made me so agile and flexible, honestly,\u201d Lampe says. \u201cI\u2019m pretty bendy.\u201d<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In addition to studying videos on YouTube to see how contestants attacked the hill, Lampe visited Dorothea Dix Park near campus in the weeks leading up to her trip to practice rolling down its hills. It turned out that they weren\u2019t nearly steep enough to replicate the experience on Cooper\u2019s Hill. It was so steep, she says, that she had to hold on to the ground to keep from accidentally rolling down in the moments before the race began.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\u201cVideos and photos do not do it any justice,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a very steep hill. There\u2019s a very large initial drop and then it\u2019s very bumpy with a lot of uneven surfaces.\u201d<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Lampe\u2019s preparation included visiting the site two days before the race so she could take a practice run, a move that convinced her to buy gloves to protect her hands. And on race day, she studied a couple of men\u2019s races before her event. She noticed that both winners began from the left side, as you look down the hill, so she made sure to secure the outside spot on the left when it was her time to line up for the race.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":1701,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img src=\"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/IMG_3843-edited.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1701\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Abby Lampe '22 beginning her descent from the left side of the hill.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\u201cAs an engineer, one of my core values is to be prepared and understand what I\u2019m getting myself into,\u201d she says. \u201cMaybe this was not the smartest idea, but I wanted to be prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Even so, Lampe couldn\u2019t control everything about the race. \u201cI knew I was going to fall down at some point, but I didn\u2019t expect to fall down so early and just keep rolling,\u201d she says. \u201cI could feel my face getting smushed in by the hill. I just wanted to get to the bottom of the hill.\u201d<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>And so she did, ahead of all the other competitors. In videos from the event, Lampe is beaming as she holds up her winning cheese. Her face and clothes, including a black NC State sweatshirt, are splattered with mud. \u201cI really wanted to represent NC State,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:ncst\/image-grid -->\n<section class=\"wp-block-ncst-image-grid\"><!-- wp:ncst\/image-column -->\n<section class=\"wp-block-ncst-image-column\"><!-- wp:image {\"id\":1697,\"sizeSlug\":\"full\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} -->\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img src=\"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/IMG_3806.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1697\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Abby Lampe '22 in a Gloucester pub Sunday night.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<!-- \/wp:image --><\/section>\n<!-- \/wp:ncst\/image-column --><\/section>\n<!-- \/wp:ncst\/image-grid -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Lampe plans to ship the cheese home to her parents, who now live in Clayton, N.C., and enjoy it with family and friends when her trip to Europe ends later this summer. She says the race exceeded her expectations, and she hasn\u2019t ruled out defending her title next year.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s so surreal,\u201d she says. \u201cI went out to the pubs in Gloucester last night, and everyone bought me drinks. Ladies wanted to take pictures with me and the cheese, which I brought with me. I\u2019m still on cloud nine.\u201d<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:ncst\/buttons -->\n<div class=\"wp-block-ncst-buttons\"><!-- wp:ncst\/button -->\n<div class=\"wp-block-ncst-button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=m2QowBcLoB4\" class=\"btn btn-play ncst-block__button-link\" data-ncst-lightbox=\"video\" data-ua-cat=\"Button Block\" data-ua-action=\"Button Click\" data-ua-label=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=m2QowBcLoB4\"><span class=\"text\">Watch Abby's race<\/span><span class=\"arrow-indicator\"><!-- wp:ncst\/wolficon {\"slug\":\"play\"} -->\n<svg class=\"wp-block-ncst-wolficon wolficon\" role=\"img\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><use xlink:href=\"#wolficon-play\"\/><\/svg>\n<!-- \/wp:ncst\/wolficon --><\/span><\/a><\/div>\n<!-- \/wp:ncst\/button --><\/div>\n<!-- \/wp:ncst\/buttons -->"},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Years of preparation pay off as Abby Lampe \u201922 becomes the first American female to win England\u2019s annual \u201ccheese rolling\u201d event, a brutal downhill race near Gloucester.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":1693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"views\/single-immersive.blade.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"source":"","ncst_custom_author":"","ncst_show_custom_author":false,"ncst_dynamicHeaderBlockName":"ncst\/side-by-side-header","ncst_dynamicHeaderData":"{\"backgroundColor\":\"red_400\",\"focalPoint\":{\"x\":\"0.40\",\"y\":\"0.55\"},\"showAuthor\":true,\"showDate\":true,\"subtitle\":\"Years of preparation pay off as Abby Lampe \u201922 becomes the first American female to win England\u2019s annual \u201ccheese rolling\u201d event, a brutal downhill race near Gloucester.\",\"showFeaturedVideo\":false,\"displayCategoryID\":5,\"image\":\"{\\\"alt\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"id\\\":1692,\\\"caption\\\":\\\"\\\",\\\"url\\\":\\\"https:\/\/magazine.alumni.ncsu.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/AbbyLampeVertical-683x1024.jpg\\\"}\"}","ncst_content_audit_freq":"","ncst_content_audit_date":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,10,9],"tags":[21,233,272],"_ncst_magazine_issue":[],"class_list":["post-1691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-best-bets","category-class-act","category-stories","tag-abby-lampe","tag-cheese-rolling","tag-college-of-engineering"],"displayCategory":{"term_id":5,"name":"Best Bets","slug":"best-bets","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":5,"taxonomy":"category","description":"","parent":0,"count":53,"filter":"raw"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1691"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1691"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5553,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1691\/revisions\/5553"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1691"},{"taxonomy":"_ncst_magazine_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.ncsu.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/_ncst_magazine_issue?post=1691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}