|
After a
hardened battle of the big cheeses new team Hill Valley High Rollers
beat five time champions Made In Cheshire to lift the cup for the
first time.
Hill Valley High Rollers
negotiated the obstacle course of farm-yard animals to roll their way
into the record books, also launching the eighth Chester Food and
Drink Festival, which will be held over the Easter weekend.
The team from The Macdonald Hill
Valley Hotel Golf & Spa, near Whitchurch, defeated the Cheshire
team, whose challenge crumbled after previously winning the event for
five years on the run. The cheese rolling was this year followed by a
new event, a traditional Pancake Race on Pancake Day, which created a
'flipping fantastic' day of activities. A team of pancake-tossers
from the new Meze restaurant in Eastgate Row North, Chester won the
Golden Pancake Trophy after narrowly beating a team from the West
Cheshire Chamber of Commerce in the Final.
Captains of industry and leaders
of the new Cheshire West and Chester Council rolled up for this
year's competition. A procession including children from Merton House
School made their way on a circuit of the Roman Walls carrying a
wheel of cheese from The Groves to Eastgate Street, where Angel
Burton, of Merton House, carried the cheese through the city to The
Cross to start the cheese rolling. Also, a team of four runners from
Cheshire West and Chester Council did a lap of the walls and met the
procession in Eastgate Street.
Hundreds of spectators
lined Chester's ancient Bridge Street Rows to gain a vantage point.
Lord Mayor of Chester, Cllr Brian Bailey, started each cheese rolling
race, which also involved teams from Snowdonia and a Cheshire Cheese
Ladies Team.
Lady Mayoress Raewyn Bailey
started the Pancake Racing, which saw teams from Amber Lounge,
M&S, The Cheese Shop and Brasserie Chez Gerard also toss pancakes
down a course on Bridge Street, Chester.
Stephen Wundke, Chairman of the
Chester Food & Drink Festival, said:
"The cheese rolling event
always launches the annual Chester Food and Drink Festival on a roll.
This event was added to by the new pancake tossing this year, on
Shrove Tuesday. It showed that our leaders from the new authority are
united in their cause of working together for a better Chester and
West Cheshire. This really signals food and drink as one of
Cheshire's most important products, in what is fast becoming one of
the biggest food festivals in the country."
Kate Halewood, of Vicars Cross,
Chester, General Manager of The Macdonald Hill Valley Hotel Golf &
Spa, added:
"We are delighted to have
won the cheese rolling on our first attempt. This was a lot harder
physically than we had thought it was going to be. The cheese rolling
was a great launch event to the Chester Food and Drink Festival and
we are so pleased we took part. We will be back next year to defend
our title."
Cheshire cheese is one of the
region's most famous exports and the Taste Festival, which runs from
April 11 to 13 at Chester Racecourse as part of the Chester Food and
Drink Festival, celebrating this in its launch event - the 'infamous'
Cheese Rolling Championship.
As cheese rolling lands on Shrove
Tuesday this year, the Festival organisers added the extra Pancake
Race Day event to the programme, where businesses proved their
pancake tossing skills while negotiating an obstacle course to win a
coveted golden frying pan.
The Chester Food & Drink
Festival is taking place from April 4 to April 18 and will include
many activities and events such as the very popular Cocktail
Competition at Cruise nightclub, St. John Street, Chester, where the
city's finest bartenders will reveal their latest creations.
Also helping to bring the
tastes and smells of the Festival to the city centre, a series of
theme nights, special family offers and accommodation promotions in
city centre restaurants and hotels will all help to make Chester the
focus of food and drink within the UK.
top |
