Running of the Bulls Encierro 12 July 2007 Pamplona Spain

Seven runners gored and 6 others injured in this running. Two of the gored are in very serious condition. By far the most suspenseful, most injuries running so far this year.

The 'encierro' or The Running Of The Bulls is the single most characteristic event of the Fiesta of San Fermin, held in Pamplona every year from July 6-14. Each of the festival’s bull runs is held at eight o'clock each morning from the 7th to the 14th. It consists largely of young men (although women also run) who run in front of the bulls to lead them from their pen in the center of Pamplona through town and into Pamplona ’s bull-ring. The run usually lasts from two to three minutes - although stray bulls often turn back sot the run may last much longer.

The length of the run is some 830 metres (about half a mile) and you don't have to sign up anywhere to take part. The entire length of the course is gated so to run you need only show up at one of several entranceways before they are closed at 7:30 a.m.

The run began as part of moving bulls from the edge of town to the bullring. During the mid 1800s, runners began to join behind the herd on their journey. Eventually locals started running in front of the bulls. Hemingway wrote about this death-defying tradition in the 1930s and thereafter the festival gained worldwide fame. In the early morning light, brass bands representing each district of Pamplona fan out to wake the citizenry for another run. City workers work diligently to set up wooden fencing along the ½ mile course. Police quietly but firmly clear sleepy revelers (often slumbering in the streets) from the course. The street-cleaners then move in to mop up the accumulated rubbish and dirt caused by the night-long partying. Anyone not running must stay behind the double-fences that line the route. Only first-aid teams are allowed between the double fencing. One practical reason for this is, that the runners have the space to jump over the fence should they need to. So now that the fencing has been shut in, the only way to enter is at the gateway at the Town Hall or at the gateway of the Plaza del Mercado.

Many runners who gather at the bottom of Santo Domingo , the start of the run, crowd together and sing a homily to the image of San Fermin which is placed in a sepulcher on the wall decorated with the scarves of the peñas (city districts). The song goes like this: "A San Fermín pedimos, por ser nuestro patrón, nos guíe en el encierro dándonos su bendición" ("We ask San Fermín, as our Patron, to guide us through the Bull Run and give us his blessing").

A rocket called the Chupinaxo goes off at the moment the pen is opened and a second rocket goes off to let everyone know that all the bulls are now running. This is the moment of truth in the encierro; the bulls run like the wind. It is impossible to race them or even keep up with them for very long. The proper way to run is to start off slowly when the bulls are still a good distance behind, and as they draw nearer start running as fast as you can, before they get too close, stay in front of them for a short distance and then get out of the way as cleanly as possible. Be careful not to cross the paths of other runners. Look for a gap in the fence to slip through or jump over, or a space against the wall of the street. Each bull weighs about 600 kilos – roughly 1 ton - and has two sharp horns. So you have to be careful not to get pushed over or knocked down by other runners. The crowding is particularly dense the opening and closing weekends where the number of visitors to the Fiesta more than doubles.

Each section of the run has its own particular characteristics and seasoned runners often choose to run the same section. In Santo Domingo , the first part of the run, the pace is very fast. Particularly risky is the corner of Mercaderes where most of the television footage is shot. This is a 90-degree corner where bulls and bodies often slam into the fence. There is a long straight run up Estafeta Street which ends at the bull-ring. Once in the bull ring, a third rocket goes off signaling the “all-clear” and a final rocket is set off when all the bulls have been safely locked into their pens.

Between that first and last rocket only a few minutes have elapsed but the memories (and war stories) last a lifetime.The day after the fiesta ends, some die-hard locals who refuse to face the fact that the Fiesta is over will run in front of the early-morning bus which comes up Santo Domingo street.

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