Caught on video: Britain's biggest runaway snowball... and the fool who tried to 'ride' it


This is the moment when a giant snowball, rolled by dozens of people, careered downhill knocking people over like skittles.

The five-feet high ball of ice, weighing an estimated quarter of a tonne, was made on London's Hampstead Heath.

More than 100 cheering onlookers watched as it was heaved to the top of a hill and released.

Scroll down to watch the full video

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Cheering crowds surround the snowball as it is pushed to the top of a hill on Hampstead Heath, London

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And they'er off: As the ball gathers pace more than 100 people set off after it

In scenes reminiscent of Gloucestershire's famous annual cheese-rolling event, scores of people chased the out-of-control snowball, while others in its path scattered.

One brave - or foolhardy - runner attempted to tame the beast by leaping on top of it and managed to ride the snowball for a few moments before falling into its path.

Scrambling out of the way, the rider missed being squashed by mere millimetres.

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One brave - or foolhardy - runner leaps onto the 500lb snowball before falling into its path

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For a few seconds the rider manages to get upright on the ball, before toppling off

The snowball started life when a handful of people began pushing it around the heath.

As it grew in size and weight strangers lent a hand, struggling to push it to the brow of the hill before setting it free.

A comment posted on YouTube with footage of the snowball described it as 'a huge group effort by random strangers on Hampstead Heath [which] helped to produce a super-massive snowball that was eventually pushed down the hill after much protestation from the safety police.'

Another, by a poster calling themselves mjjackspud, said: ' That was so cool. Who was the mug who decided to jump on it and almost get pancaked?'

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When the snowball finally came to a halt it had swollen in size