Spain's bull run begins with few injured

AFP via Yahoo News ^ | July 7, 2007 | AMANDA RIVKIN

[don-o]

PAMPLONA, Spain - Six massive bulls charged down the packed streets of Pamplona on Saturday during the first run of the San Fermin Festival, which combines the half-ton animals with damp cobblestones and revelers steeped in adrenaline and alcohol.

Injuries are usually common as the crowds strive to keep ahead of the bulls in the narrow streets. But only seven people were treated for minor injuries this year, including an Australian man who was slightly gored and a Spaniard who escaped with a minor shoulder injury after being tossed in the air and falling into the path of another bull, whose horns missed.

The number of revelers swelled this year because the traditional start day fell on a weekend. Last year, more than 200,000 tourists visited Pamplona, according to the city government. Numbers this year are likely to exceed that, said government spokeswoman Edurne Elio.

San Fermin is as much a feast of thanksgiving for the bounty of wine as it is a celebration of bullfighting. Pamplona, capital of the winemaking region of Navarra, is situated immediately east of another world-renowned wine area — Rioja.

It is customary for many revelers, particularly foreigners, to spend much of the night before a bull run drinking red wine or sangria.

"I stayed up all night drinking. Thank God for espresso," said Matthew Genovese, 25, from Washington, Conn., who is in Pamplona for the first time.

Last year, 31-year-old Ray Ducharme of Charlotte, N.C. was thrown by a cow in an mock bullfight following the first run. He underwent a 90-minute operation to reattach two vertebrae.

"They don't know what they're doing; bulls can kill," said Ruben Munoz, 24, from Madrid, who has run with the bulls for five years. "I do it for the adrenaline and because I feel liberated."

Saturday was particularly poignant for Victor Elbusto, 57, who made his last run after 40 years.

"I've only been gored once, 20 years ago, and now I realize I need to give up before my luck runs out," said Elbusto, whose record won him the title of "divino," a person who has run many years with few injuries.

The bulls, which are kept in an enclosure just outside the town center, are run daily during the San Fermin Festival to Pamplona's central bullring. Crowds started to line the 974-yard course as early as 2 a.m.

Each of the nine days of San Fermin features bulls from a different breeder. The lightest this year weighed 1,212 pounds and the heaviest 1,356 pounds.

Since records began in 1924, 13 people have been killed. The last fatality, a 22-year-old American, was gored to death in 1995.

The San Fermin Festival dates back to the late 16th century but gained worldwide fame in Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises."

On Sunday the crowd will run with Spain's most dangerous breed of bulls, the Miuras.

[don-o]

Revelers are chased by a Dolores Aguirre Ybarra's fighting bull on the first day of the running of the bulls during the San Fermin Festival in Pamplona, northern Spain, Saturday, July 7, 2007. The running of the bulls, a most Spanish of celebrations, combining massive bulls and huge doses of adrenaline mixed with equally generous lashings of alcohol, got under way Saturday. One person was gored in the buttock, and another runner suffered a shoulder injury. Both were evacuated by ambulance.(AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)

[Abathar]

Sorry, but I cheer for the bulls here. Watching the matadors later kill them in the ring is a slow and painful death for them. I look at this as pre-emtive revenge for what is coming later...

[Bon mots]

Image courtesy of FReeper, "Johnny7"

[RichInOC]

A living illustration of the truth of the old saying “[Mess] with the bull, get the horn”.

[advertising guy]

ditto every word........the whole thing is stupid

[trisham]

It must be a “guy” thing. I can’t even imagine doing this.

[don-o]

I can’t even imagine doing this.

w/o alcohol - neither can this guy.

[trisham]

With alcohol-even more dangerous, but I hear what you’re saying.

[trisham]

this isnt a guy thing. im a real guy, a real man would never do shi— like this to animals

***********

I agree. Cruelty to animals is not in my definition of a real man.

[advertising guy]

amen every word.....this is losers taking advantage of animals and the bull fight too is sick...........stabbing a bull to death SLOWLY to entertain ????

Why not bulls vs bears too

or lions and christians..........

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

Did anyone notice the pixilated gore that NBC showed??

I just happened to turn on the TV and saw Meredith Viera interviewing two brothers who had been gored by the same bull. But when they showed pictures of it, the blood and gore had been pixilated out! No blood, no gore, no ripped pants, nothing. Just square pixels. I couldn't believe it!

Why are they sanitizing the news?!

[advertising guy]

cause they will put it on Bravo,(cable) holes and all and get more ad money........the gays will love it

[the_devils_advocate_666]

Here's some pics from this year's "running", but these photos are NOT RECOMMENDED FOR THE TIMID: http://www.knbc.com/slideshow/news/13679015/detail.html