PAMPLONA, Spain: Thrill-seekers got a scare yesterday as they fled half-tonne, sharp-horned fighting bulls charging through Pamplona in the opening run of Spain’s San Fermin festival.
Six huge bulls and six steers carved a path through masses of runners dressed in white with red scarves around their necks and packed into the winding, cobbled streets of the northern Spanish city.
Hundreds of people ran with the bulls, some of which skidded as they galloped in four minutes and six seconds from a holding pen along an 848.6-metre course to the city’s bull ring, where they will be slayed in a bullfight.
Many people dared to touch the beasts on their sides during the run, or even to race just a few steps in front of the beasts’ horns.
“I got in front of the bull. I was nervous and I was scared and it was fun. I was afraid, of course. This is why I came,” said first-time participant Rex Parris, the white-bearded 61-year-old mayor of Lancaster, California who came with his two sons.
A first medical report from regional medical authorities showed four people had been taken to hospital with injuries, none apparently serious: a 24-year-old Australian, a 44-year-old Briton, a 26-year-old American and a 36-year-old resident of Pamplona. But one lone tan-coloured bull gave runners a fright when the animal hung back and stopped just before the bull ring as its way forward was blocked by people.
The bull turned around to face a dense crowd that had built up behind it, sending panicky runners scrambling over wooden fence barriers for safety.
Desperate to prevent the bull from charging into the crowd, herders with long sticks finally enticed the bull into the ring.
“The race was very, very dangerous,” said Marcos Sales, a 35-year-old from the eastern Spanish city of Castellon and a veteran of six San Fermin bull-runs who was coming back after a three-year break.
“There were a lot of people, people with no experience who don’t know where the danger is,” he added.
“Each year too many people come and the bull-runs become very dangerous. They come from abroad and they’re not aware of the danger.” The daily early morning bull runs are the highlight of a nine-day mix of partying and adrenaline seeking, which draws hundreds of thousands of people from around the world. AFP
