Dozens of fearless competitors took part yesterday in one of the country's most bizarre and hair-raising sporting challenges.

They flipped, somersaulted and tumbled their way 200 metres down an alarmingly steep hill in Brockworth, Gloucestershire, in pursuit of giant runaway cheeses.

Despite heavy rain, 3,000 people gathered on the hillside, to watch the five bone-crunching downhill races.

Jason Crowther, from Pembrokeshire, west Wales, won the first race to complete a hat-trick of victories over the past three years.

Clutching the 8lb Double Gloucester, the bruised and battered 25-year-old said: "There's no training you can do for this. You have just got to go for it.

" It was a bit slippery and I heard something crack, which I think was my knee."

Aaron Walden, 20, from Gloucester, also won a race for the third time - beating a man dressed in a nappy to the bottom of the hill.

Psychologist Jemima Bullock, 33, from New Zealand, was the winner of the fiercely-competitive ladies' race.

"It's pretty well known back home and it's always on the news," she said as she held her bloodied knee.

St John Ambulance said 20 people were treated for minor injuries.

It is thought the tradition of cheese rolling may date back as far as the ancient Britons or the Romans, but no one knows for sure how the race started.