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SAN FERMIN

Top pics from Spain’s Running of the Bulls 2014

After the final and longest bull run of this year's San Fermin festival, The Local takes a look at the morning's events and pics some of the craziest photos from the week's celebrations.

Published: 14 July 2014 13:43 CEST
Top pics from Spain's Running of the Bulls 2014
Think San Fermin is just the bull runs? Click inside to see the famous festival from all angles. Photo: AFP

Two Australians and a Spaniard were gored on Monday in the final and longest bull run of this year's San Fermin festival as it wound up in Spain's northern city of Pamplona.

Another four people were hospitalised for other injuries picked up as runners dressed in traditional white clothing and red scarves tripped over each other and fell as they opened a path for the six-half tonne fighting bulls and six steers.

A 595-kilo (1,300-pound) bull named "Olivito" that slipped and became separated from the pack turned around to face the runners and repeatedly charged one young man, lifting him in the air and pinning him against a wall.

The man managed to escape but the bull quickly caught up with him, goring him again as he tried desperately to pass to the other side of a wooden fence that separates runners from spectators.

THINK SAN FERMIN IS JUST THE BULL RUNS? HERE ARE 8 GREAT PHOTOS SHOWCASING ALL ANGLES OF THE FAMOUS FESTIVAL 

A bull that separates from the pack presents one of the greatest dangers in the bull-runs, leaving the huge animal disoriented and more likely to charge runners.

Monday's run was the longest of the eight in this year's festival and the bulls from the Miura ranch in Seville in southern Spain took four minutes and 47 seconds to tear along a winding 848.6-metre course from their holding pen to Pamplona's bull-ring.

A 24-year-old Australian man was gored in the right thigh while a 26-year-old Australian was gored three times, the regional government of Navarra said in a statement.

A 21-year-old Spaniard from Navarra was also gored three times, it added. It was not immediately clear which of the men was the one gored by "Olivito."

In all, 42 people have been hospitalised after taking part in the bull runs at this year's festival, including seven for gorings.

The morning bull runs are the highlight of the nine-day festival which dates back to the Middle Ages and was immortalised in Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises."

The festival also features bullfights, with the animals from the morning runs facing off matadors in the ring in evening, concerts, nightly fireworks, religious processions and a vibrant night life, with bars staying open until 7:00.

Fifteen people have died from gorings since records started in 1911, most recently in 2009 when a 27-year-old Spanish man was gored in the neck, heart and lungs.

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PAMPLONA

Running of the bulls: Pamplona’s San Fermin cancelled over coronavirus

Spain’s most famous running of the bulls fiesta has been cancelled this year due to the coronavirus.

Published: 21 April 2020 15:31 CEST
Running of the bulls: Pamplona's San Fermin cancelled over coronavirus
Social distancing just wouln´t be possible at San Fermin. Photo: AFP

San Fermin is celebrated each July in the northern city of Pamplona, Navarra, but the fiesta which draws crowds of a million revellers will not be taking place this summer.

Pamplona’s city council officially announced news of the cancellation of the event on Tuesday, confirming what many regular festival goers had suspected.

The festival, which kicks off on July 6th attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors, who cram into the Navarran capital for the eight-day long non-stop party, which involves religious parades, concerts, bullfights as well as the daily ‘encierros’ or bull runs.

Each morning at 8am crowds of runners traditionally dressed in white with red pañuelos and sashes await the release of six Spanish fighting bulls and six steers, who race through the narrow cobbled streets to the bullring.


Crowds squeezed into the sqaure infront of the town hall for the chupinazo marking the start of the fiesta: Photo: AFP

Similar encierros take place in towns across the Basque region but Pamplona's San Fermin is the biggest and most famous after being immortalised in Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises”.

“As expected as it was, it still leaves us deeply sad,” said acting mayor Ana Elizalde when announcing the inevitable news that the festival could not be carried out with social distancing measures in place.

She was unable to say whether it might be held at a later date, given the unpredictability of the coronavirus health crisis.

“It seems complicated to celebrate San Fermin (at all) this year, but we will wait to see how events evolve”, she said.


Photo: AFP

It is not the only time in its history that the fiesta has been cancelled. It was also suspended in 1937 and 1938 during the Spanish Civil War, and had to be cancelled a third time in 1978 after a student was shot during clashes between police and protesters calling for an independent Basque region. 

Deirdre Carney, an American now living in Spain who has has attended the fiesta since childhood, said: “The last time San Fermin was called off was the year I was born. My father was there and he and his friends were holed up in their hotel for a few days to avoid the rioting.

“That was 42 years ago, and it is completely shocking to the people of Navarra and everyone who loves the festival to have this happen again. Of course everyone understands why, and that there was no other choice, but we are nonetheless very saddened. The fiesta is a celebration of life and joy, so we will return next year and it will be even more meaningful than ever.”

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