Thousands of thrill-seekers flocked to the Pamplona running of the bulls over the weekend, trying to prove they could outrun (or at least outrun) the fighting bulls.
As thousands of people avoided the animals’ horns, at least six people were injured yesterday, one participant was gored and five suffered bruises, local government sources in the Spanish city said.
Dramatic footage shows participants stumbling and covering their heads as they are trampled in the dangerous race, which takes place over 850 metres through the narrow streets of the city centre.
Some of the attendees attacked the animals, and some commentators said it was a miracle that no one was attacked or seriously injured or even killed.
Sixteen people have died at the annual festival since records began in 1910, most recently in 2009, while many more are injured while trying to escape the wild beasts.
The festivities, which include bull runs as well as concerts, religious processions and copious amounts of wine, were made famous by Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel “The Fiesta.”
Revellers prepare for an attack by a wild cow during the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, Spain, July 8, 2024
A ‘recortador’ jumps over a bull at the Plaza de Toros during a show after the first day of the San Fermin festivities in Pamplona, northern Spain, July 7, 2024
A bullfighter is run over by an angry bull in the bullring during a show after the first day of the San Fermin festivities in Pamplona
A bull attacks a bullfighter who fell to the ground during the ritual
Participants covered their heads as the bull leapt over them as it was led into the arena.
Participants run in front of the ‘Cebada Gago’ bulls during the running of the bulls at the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, northern Spain, July 8, 2024.
A participant is run over by a young cow during a show after the second running of the bulls of the Sanfermines in Pamplona
A reveller jumps over a wild cow at the San Fermin festival in Pamplona
Participants parade in front of the Cebada Gago bulls during the running of the bulls at the Sanfermines in Pamplona
Participants parade in front of the ‘Cebada Gago’ bulls during the running of the bulls at the San Fermin festival
On Sunday, one man was gored and five others were taken to hospital with traumatic injuries.
A 37-year-old man from Beriain, near Pamplona, where the annual festival is held every July, suffered the only bloody injury, said to have been to the palate.
Among the five other victims was a 54-year-old man from New York. All six of the runners who required hospital treatment were men.
The curtain rose on nine days of festivities on Saturday when thousands of people filled the city’s main square for the ‘chupinazo’, the firecracker that inaugurates an event that dates back to medieval times.
Attendees, dressed in the essential white suits and a red scarf around their necks, celebrated by dousing each other in wine and sangria.
The 8am running of the bulls on Sunday was the first of eight so-called running of the bulls that constitute the highlight of the festival.
Two of the six fighting bulls, led by six young bulls, separated from the rest of the group during the half-kilometre route through the streets of Pamplona’s old town.
They remained in the bullring at the end of the route for more than a minute before the ranchers led them away from the runners crowding around them and towards the pens.
The bulls that run every morning are slaughtered in the afternoon by professional bullfighters.
Participants run in front of the ‘Cebada Gago’ bulls during the running of the bulls at the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, northern Spain, July 8, 2024.
Participants dressed in red and white run in front of the ‘Cebada Gago’ bulls during the running of the bulls
The animals travel from their corral to the bullring along the narrow streets of the old town over a route of 850 metres.
Every year, between 200 and 300 people are injured during bull runs, often foreigners from Great Britain, the United States and Australia.
The most recent death occurred in 2009, when Daniel Jimeno, 27, of Madrid, was gored in the neck by a bull named Capuchino.
Animal rights activists campaign against the festival every year, saying it is cruel to animals, who are provoked and then killed in front of baying crowds.
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