No space to run

Just one goring at Telefonica in an uneventual run with the Dolores Aguirre bulls

Photography: Luis Azanza

The tried-and-tested veteran Dolores Aguirre bull-breed featured in this third running of the bulls of Sanfermin 2011. The beginning of the weekend meant that the course was jam-packed with runners. It appears that just three runners were taken away to Pamplona hospitals, one of these suffering a wound from the horns of a bull.

Today's running of the bulls was very fast (2 min. 56sec.) and quite clean, considering that we are on the weekend. The runners found it very difficult to get close in front of the horns of the bulls, as the pack of bulls and bell-oxen ran in a compact group almost until the end of Estafeta Street. The bulls behaved in a noble fashion, hardly making any gestures or charges against the runners. The runners, particularly in the Estafeta stretch, suffered a lot of falls, trip-ups, pushing and shoving, as they struggled to find a space to run close in front of the bulls.

At the Telefónica stretch, where the pack of animals began to loosen up somewhat, some runners finally found some space in front of the bulls. Here one runner suffered a goring to his leg. Once inside the bullring, two of the bulls began to run around the arena but thanks to the good work of the "dobladores" with their capes, the two animals were quickly taken away towards the safety of the pens.