Tories could tumble like Gloucestershire's cheese chasers, but there is no mad enthusiasm for Labour
It's a mucky, hazardous, undignified race that is all about risk and survival.
Competitors in the cheese chasing dash down Cooper's Hill in Gloucestershire do it for the prize of a wheel of double Gloucester cheese.
As for general elections, politicians play their game of survival for a place on the green benches in the House of Commons, and with it, power.
On the second stop of our tour with a peoples' parliamentary bench, we came to Tewkesbury to talk to spectators at the annual event and find out what they want from their next crop of MPs.
Becky Rhode, her partner Tom, her 15-year-old son and her family dog were first to take advantage of the green upholstered bench which we left in a meadow with a view of the cheese chasing contest.
"In rural areas, transport is a lot more expensive, especially fuel prices. Groceries have gone up too," she said.
Accountant Becky isn't a big fan of the increases in the minimum wage. She feels it devalues the time, money and effort she has invested in getting her qualifications.
She says there is "no longer a sizable difference" between what she can earn as an accountant or doing something far less skilled.
Her apple orchard farmer partner Tom Spicer, adds: "We need more money or lower prices, really. That's it, that's the main struggle at the moment."
Next in the chair was engineering student Joey Sharma who had travelled to the cheese rolling event from Bristol.
He hasn't decided who he will vote for yet.
"I'm still a student, so student debt, I'd like something done about that. Public transport, I think that's a big one, carbon-neutral is a big one too for me."
Lucy Rickson, a housing association worker, thinks more should be done to help people who need social housing and that they tend to be "demonised" by politicians.
She adds: "There are a lot of issues in the southwest, rural regions, small market towns, seaside towns. Politicians need to know about seasonal work, seasonal hidden homelessness.
"If you haven't got a huge amount of money, there's not the work to keep your household going."
Like student Joey, Lucy also worries about the environment and targets to reach net zero.
"I think pushing back all the targets and pushing back all the approaches to a better green world are just inappropriate. We say we can't afford it, but then we can't afford a lot of things. We need to prioritise more."
Gloucestershire is our second stop in the South West, after Newquay in Cornwall, and in both locations the environment has been raised regularly on our people's bench.
So far, it hasn't been much of a campaign issue as both main parties have rowed back on green policies.
The view from Cooper's Hill takes in key battle grounds of the election race.
You can see Cheltenham, along with its famous racecourse, a target seat for the Liberal Democrats, currently Conservative held.
The hill also peers over the town of Gloucester, where Labour need just under a 10% swing to take it. They will need that and more to win the election.
The hill itself is in Tewkesbury, a relatively safe Tory seat, and yet, not much in this election is safe. Even here the Tories could tumble like a cheese chaser.
The Lib Dems need an 18% swing, and they've done better than that in recent by-elections.
Labour has support in the area too, so it could turn into a three-way scramble for the line.
Enjoying a picnic with friends on Cooper's Hill is Jane Blofield, who we coax on to our bench. Jane is a urology and oncology clinical nurse, and she feels her profession is understaffed.
"It's not about making wild promises, it's about diverting money to the right places," she says. In her view, key among them is the NHS.
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She then says she will vote Labour but adds, "I don't know if they've got the answers, but I certainly know the Conservatives haven't because they've ruined the NHS."
Pressed on if she thinks Sir Keir Starmer can repair the situation, Jane replies, "No."
Like the cheese race, the bumping, bruising electoral arena is a place where slip-ups happen.
Sir Keir Starmer's party is leading in the polls, but from the voices we've heard so far on our tour, it doesn't feel like people are running towards Labour with glee, but rather running away from the Tories in dissatisfaction.
Even among those who say they will vote Labour, there's no mad enthusiasm, certainly not of the type you find on the top of Cooper's Hill, as they prepare to chase a wheel of double Gloucester down an insanely steep grassy slope.
