Dazzling and very fast

Five taken off to hospital, none with a goring, after the final running with bulls from the Nuñez del Cuvillo bull-ranch.

Photography: Cristina Abadía

The eighth Sanfermin running of the bulls featured the Conde de Cuvillo bulls with a very fast and very clean running.

The pack of bulls stayed close together for the most part of the course and, although the runners tried hard to find space in front of the horns as this was the final opportunity of running the bulls this year, it was not easy due to the fact that the bulls were very fast and that they stayed in a compact group. The running of the bulls took 2 min. 37 sec. and it seems that five runners were taken off for hospital treatment.

The pack came out very fast from the pens in Santo Domingo and the bulls stayed tucked in close behind the bell-oxen over the first stretch although one of the beige-colored bulls was overtaking them little by little. The course was not so packed as on the weekend days, but as the pack of animals were tightly grouped it was not easy for the runners to find space in front of the horns.

The pack continued to cross City Hall square at a fast pace, giving the runners little time to run in front of them. One of the brown-colored bulls slipped up at the start of the Mercaderes stretch, but it quickly got back on its feet and continued to run alongside its companions. Here, there was a moment of tenseness when one of the bell-oxen knocked over a runner trying to pull out on the right side of the street. Luckily, it came to nothing more than a momentary fright.

The pack of bulls continued to gallop past tightly huddled together and they entered the corner of Mercaderes without slipping up or crashing into the fencing on the bend. In Estafeta the space began to widen between bulls and bell-oxen and some runners were able to find some room in front of the horns to produce some fine running. The only black bull slipped up near the end of this stretch, and it got left a bit further behind along with a brown-colored bull. The bell-oxen were now running further ahead and four of the bulls were now further behind. Here, the runners had their best chance of running in front of the horns, especially with the two rear bulls, the black one and the brown one.

In Estafeta and in the Telefonica there were lots of trip-ups and falls, but the bulls did not threaten with their horns and they ran ahead down into the entrance to the bullring at a fast pace. First the bell-oxen entered the arena, followed by fours bulls in quick succession and finally, the two rear bulls, the black and brown ones, some little way behind. Once in the bullring, all were quickly led away to the pens.