“The bulls get the Tourists”, that great lie

Julen Madina is an expert and well-known runner in the San Fermin Bull Runs. He has experienced the triumph, glory and danger of the Running of the Bulls for himself and received one particularly nasty goring which he was lucky to come out of alive. Due to his great experience, sanfermin.com asked him to give advice to foreigners and those running for the first time. There is one thing though: he insists that foreigners run very well.

It's very hard to give general advice. First of all, it's important to know whether the people taking part on a stretch of the Run have run anywhere else before or have done "recortes" (event where participants dodge bulls); whether they have any experience in the bull world. This should give you a small guarantee that they're not going to freeze or panic in a tricky situation. We should define between these people and those who have never run with the bulls or have no experience with them at all.

For the former, I would give the following basic advice: Run forwards, don't touch the bulls, always try to cite them forwards and try to respect other runners. This is really what common sense tells us how the run should be: leading the bulls from the bull pens to the bullring.

It's a bit more complicated when it comes to those who have no experience at all because they are unaware of space and the risk involved in running with the bulls. So, the first thing we should do is make them realise the real dangers involved when running. Once they're aware of that, then we should try to give them some basic advice, which would include "don't take part". Try it somewhere easier. As this is almost bound to fail, the second thing to do is to tell them how to run, what to do if they fall over and in other basic situations.

Do people taking part in the Running of the Bulls without knowing the rules represent a danger? Julen Madina believes that dangerous situations are caused by ignorance of the rules. "In my opinion, runners who are unaware of how we do things are very dangerous and foolhardy. You don't know how they are going to react and that makes them unpredictable and a hazard to other runners".

"There are some who run frankly well. They've been coming for years, are unassuming and respect the fiesta. They have bothered asking others and finding things out. They all run well in line with their possibilities and distance"

People from Pamplona run very well in general because they don't need to have things explained to them. They've grown up with all the traditions, watching good runs, what you shouldn't do. They've seen it in their fathers, brothers and friends.

But most people only ever run in Pamplona, although greater fans go to Tafalla, Tudela, Sangüesa; but there are less of those. It's a good thing to run in different places to understand how bulls behave. In Pamplona, the sheer amount of people gives rise to strange situations which would mean getting caught in Bull Runs in other places.

Keeping the right distance, not losing sight of the bull's face, knowing how to dodge, if needs be, are all things which you can't forget in other Bull Runs. But sometimes you can do these things in Pamplona and sometimes you can't. That's why I say there are very good runners in Pamplona, but they are very local. I should also add that there's no new generation of younger people coming up through the ranks and that means that most of the runners in the Pamplona Bull Run are from other places, particularly the Madrid area, where it's really popular among young people.

Of course regulars count themselves as "from Pamplona". There are four regulars in my flat: three from Madrid and myself. The Running of the Bulls has grown a lot, in both good and bad ways, and the great numbers of people it attracts is one of the consequences, but don't forget that the Running of the Bulls belongs to Pamplona and the people from Pamplona are responsible for looking after it and laying down any rules, if there are to be any, so that the invasion of tourists doesn't distort the essence of the Running of the Bulls at the San Fermin fiestas.