At the Summer Picnic:  Lobelia’s Hill Pie Rolling Run

By Lina willowwood  To build yer appetites and to celebrate a pie-related incident back in the day, there will be a very short race arranged during the Grand Hobbit Summer Picnic on Sunday June 23rd! Welcome to Lobelia’s Hill Pie Rolling Run.

Lore and legends 

Local legend has it that Bilbo Baggins once had a picnic with invited guests on top of The Hill. The times were good and the hobbits were jolly, until someone noticed Lobelia Sackville-Baggins walking determinedly towards the crowd. The ensuing escape was spectacular, with hobbits streaming down The Hill, making use of all possible and some impossible shortcuts. 

They even say that one of the picnic pies started rolling down The Hill, not stopping until it hit The Party Tree. It was eaten soon after by the escaping hobbits, which improved their moods no end.

The legend may not be 100% correct, but it is to celebrate this occasion that we arrange Lobelia’s Hill Pie Rolling Run during the Grand Summer Picnic!

Rules

First of all, this is not a competition to be taken very seriously. It is loosely inspired by the Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake. While we will endeavour to find out who crosses the finish line first, visual confirmation of this is generally hard in LOTRO with latency differences between players.

Winning the race is not really the purpose, though. Basically, this is a short, adrenaline-filled event so the guests can remember local lore and build an appetite before the picnic starts in earnest. There may be some prizes involved, but most of all we want folks to have fun!

The route starts at the top of the Hill, heads down around the Party Tree below Bag End, and back to the start. All runners will likely start at once, and a fast run through the route will take approx. one minute. We ask that the participants don’t use mounts, speed buffs/skills or safe fall skills (burglars).

Apart from this, the route to the party tree and back to the picnic spot is your own choice. Go fast or slow based on your preferences. Set off fireworks, dress like Lobelia, stop for a drink – your choice. If you want to brave Lobelia’s garden and the steep cliffs below, be our guests!

This video shows the general route of the race.  Good luck! Have fun!