Running of the Bulls

In 1995 my wife, father and I flew to Spain on a delightful Delta Air Lines flight so that I could run with the bulls in Pamplona. We landed in Madrid and took a train to the northern Coast of Spain and got a hotel room in San Sebastian. The next afternoon as luck would have it we met a couple that had rented a car and we rode with them the next morning to Pamplona. We arrived in Pamplona before day break.

2009 Update-1 dead at Pamplona; first goring death since 1995. running with fighting bulls weighing 1,300 pounds (600 kilograms) or more on cobblestone streets packed with people is a life-risking exercise. Runners scurried for safety to wooden barriers along the route as the bull attacked. Herders waving sticks tried in vain to guide it into the ring, even yanking on the animal's tail to turn it around.

This went on for a minute and a half, which is a long time at San Fermin. The bulls used in Friday's run, from a ranch called Jandilla, have a reputation for being fierce at San Fermin. They hold the record for the most gorings in a single run — eight, one day in 2004.

Description from the web:

The festival of San Fermin, or the Pamplona bull running as it's more commonly known outside Spain officially begins at midday on 6th July every year. The Pamplona Bull Run takes place at 8am every morning from 7th to 14th July. Runners must be in the running area by 7.30am. The actual run stretches from the corral at Santo Domingo where the bulls are kept, to the bullring where they will fight that same afternoon. The length of the run is 825 meters 0.51 miles and the average time of the run from start to finish is about three minutes. The streets through the old town which make up the Bull Run are walled off so the bulls can't escape. Each day six fighting bulls run the route as well as two herds of bullocks (cows).

The city officials fire off two rockets fire to announce the release of the bulls from their corral. The run lasts only a few minutes. The shops and residences along the course are boarded up to prevent damage by either bull or humans during the race and where there are openings that the bulls may be able to get out they put up pulp wood barriers. One person was killed the year I ran a 20-year-old American.

As I continue,

I remember as I was walking away from my family telling my wife and father to have the camera ready and watch for me. I looked back at them trying to take notice of where they were sitting so I would be able to call out to them as I passed them. Well this didn’t happen.

I walked until I reached the end or the beginning well to as close as I could to where the bulls were pinned. Just before it all starts the police walk thru the streets bunching everyone up into little groups. I was in a group of about twenty people nearest where the bulls are kept overnight when the rockets blasted off. No one in my group spoke English. Just as the loud blast occurred everyone took off running including me. I ran with everyone down the road behind the hotels that others had for a hundred years. I looked behind me and saw only an empty street and I slowed down.

I continued walking thinking that this wasn't any big deal. I may make it to the end and not ever really end up running with the bulls. This was an error on my part.

A few minutes later you could hear a soft rumbling sound of the bull’s hooves pounding on the road as they continued running. The idea that they have two pens one for the cows and one for the hostile bulls. Their plan was to release the cows and seconds later release the bulls. The bulls want to get with the cows and the cows don't want any part of the plan. The cows are running as fast as they can and the bulls are chasing them. This is how they get the bulls to the arena for a day of bull fighting. So, there are people running being chased by cows that are being chased by bulls. Great!

I look back again and see some runners, and cows and bulls. I am running as fast as I could towards the arena. I see the gates to the arena and most of all the runners are bunched up here. The cows and bulls are right behind me and there is absolutely no where to go. The scene is full of action and everyone is running all over trying to get out of the way of the bulls. This is when you are backing up watching out making sure you’ll be able to dodge the bull if it attacks you. I turned and watched a man about forty feet from me get launched into the air by a bull that had driven his horn though his thigh. OMG I’m going to die.

As I ran I thought that there was no way that I was going to wave at them as I jogged passed where they were sitting. I was running for my life.

I tried to climb the fence but the locals believe that if you are running with the bulls you should you should stay on the other side and finished the run. Great. The locals hit you with rolled up newspapers until you fall off the fence. The action was intense then I ran further towards the gate and someone stepped on my foot and I tripped. I slid face down and stopped on the cobble stone road.

The man that got gourd and later died had been pulled to the side by other runners. My wounds caused by the road were nothing in comparison. Yes my hands and knees were cut and scratched and yes my knee was bleeding and my nice white pants were torn but I didn’t have a hole in me from a bull.

How many people do you know that have ever run with the bulls in Pamplona.

I caught up with my father and my wife and we enjoyed an afternoon of drinking and talking about the running of the bulls. In the evening they show news summary on the running of the bulls. The review showed a man all dressed in white lying along a fence at the entrance of the arena and that was me. Air fare is at an all time low to Travel to Europe so consider it. Would I do it again? Yes. If you ever get the chance you should do it. It was a great adventure.

Thanks

JRATL