Photographies: Juantxo Erce

Mercaderes corner has always been a key spot along the course of the Sanfermin Running of the Bulls. That is, until 2013, when it was decided that the pavement here should be given a coating of anti-slipping liquid to prevent the regular slipping and sliding that occurred to the bulls at this corner. It used to provide some very spectacular slip-ups at times but it also increased the danger as the bulls that fell down often become detached from the pack and ran loose. So, since this anti-slip liquid has been applied, the drama is somewhat more muted but, from time to time, there are still some scary moments to be seen here.

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Photographies: Iñaki Vergara

The first half of this fourth Sanfermin Running of the Bulls was relatively quiet, but from the stretch at the end of Estafeta Street onwards, things began to get out of hand and were a sign of what was to come at the entrance to the bull ring.

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Photographies: Miguel Goñi

The loose José Escolar bull left a trail of bruised, contused and injured runners behind it as it ran alone over the course in today’s third Running of the Bull event. Perhaps the worst blow was suffered by a young Japanese man who was gored in the thorax on the Santo Domingo stretch, but another man also suffered some serious injury when he was knocked down and run over by the same bull at the Mercaderes stretch of the course.

Half-way along Mercaderes street, a runner was racing along the center of the street.  The Escolar bull came steaming up behind at a very fast pace and gave the runner a hard blow to his back which knocked him to the ground. Although he did not suffer a goring, the violence of the blow injured the runner to such an extent that he had to be taken off to the hospital. Once there, he was diagnosed with a severely bruised thorax and the runner has been kept in hospital where his condition is stable.

The seriously-injured runner who suffered a goring at the Santo Domingo stretch during this third Running of the Bulls of Sanfermin 2016 was not, in fact, taking a direct part in the event when he was charged and tossed by the bull. In fact he was at the fence along with some other friends and they tried to find refuge there when the José Escolar bull charged into them and tossed the young runner into the middle of the course.

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Photography: Pablo Lasaosa

Bulls that were loose and separated, bulls that were falling down and running in opposite directions, bulls that were charging at runners all along the course. Runners who could not control the count of the loose bulls and who did not know from what side the bulls were coming from and if some had already passed by or not. Runners who suffered a goring on practically each stretch of the course. In short, a running of the bulls that will be long remembered for the crazy and weird turnabouts of many moments of this morning’s run.

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Photography: Javier Campos

The first goring of this very dangerous second Running of the Bulls of Sanfermin 2016 happened almost as soon as the bulls came out of the pens. One of the bulls bringing up the rear of the pack swung its head to the right and found the leg of one of the veteran runners who always runs from this stretch of the course. He has always been easy to pick out in the crowd because of the green necktie that he wears.

The goring was done in an instant and the bull continues its course without paying any further attention to the victim. Meanwhile the injured runner was taken off to hospital for treatment along with the other runners who received gorings in this morning’s bullrun.

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