Even today, it is still front page news to find that a woman has suffered an injury in the Sanfermin Running of the Bulls. Although, thankfully, the mere fact of a woman participating in the run no longer raises an eyebrow. All down the years, the participation of women in the Running of the Bulls has been negligible, not to say nil. But over these last years, the number of women participants is rising year by year. To enjoy the personal and singular thrill of participating in the run is equally enticing to both sexes. Generally, the argument against the participation of women has centered on the physical disadvantage that typically exists between both sexes. That argument is easily refutable because using some intelligence, being prepared, and selecting a stretch of the run that is appropriate, there are no special problems in having a woman successfully do it. The bulls do not distinguish between the sexes.
Up to now, The Sanfermin Running of the Bulls have resulted in four women runners receiving gorings from the horns of the bulls. Anne Karlin Kvan (NORWEGIAN) on the 8th of July, 1991, Jennifer Smith (The USA) on the 7th of July, 2001, Elinzey Sain (The USA) just a year later and J.E (AUSTRALIAN) on the 14th of July, 2013. On this video you can watch the goring suffered by Anne Karlin Kvan during a dangerous running of the bulls at the stretch leading into the bullring.
The last woman to suffer a goring was in the final run of the last year’s fiestas, on the 14th of July, 2013. It had been a relatively calm straightforward run until the final stretch leading into the ring, when a young Australian girl of just 23 years of age got a goring to her back from the horns of a big bull.
