Foto: Mikel Ciaurriz

Victoriano bulls left 2 gored runners

Photography: Mikel Ciaurriz

This fifth appearance of the Victoriano del Río Bulls at San Fermin has turned out to be the most dangerous bullrunning of the fiestas so far this year. The bulls were always ready to take on the runners along the whole stretch of the course. The fame of this bull-breed for covering the course in fast times and with the statistical figure of having the fastest average of any of the bull-breeds did not materialize today.

At the first stretch in Santo Domingo two Bulls burst ahead of the rest of the pack and they remained in front for the rest of the run, showing a very fast pace. They ran in a threatening fashion, ready to charge on either side, but in fact, they did not cause any actual danger to the runners, even though it was difficult for the runners to keep up with their pace.

The real danger however, came from a bull which got left behind from the rest of the pack and became disorientated. The bull threatened to turn back several times and it took some time for the runners to convince it to keep moving ahead but it was eventually lead into the bullring quite skillfully by some of the runners. All the bulls went quickly off to the pens without more ado.

 

One of the gored runners is the american writer Bill Hillmann.

FIESTA

Hemingway writes a new Fiesta and rescues the memories of Orson Welles’s daughter

Hemingway has written “FIESTA”, again – well, almost. This time it is, in fact, John (Hemingway) who, incidentally, was chosen as Kukuxumusu Guiri del Año 2011 (Fiesta Foreigner of the Year)– and he has now written this book with the idea of explaining to all would-be runners from the Anglo-Saxon countries just what the bullrunning entails. In addition, he has the help of a trio of Joe DistlerBill Hillmann and Alexander Fiske-Harrison while photographer Jim Hollander, provides the accompanying images. Perhaps the most curious contributor of all is Beatrice Welles, who provides some unedited memories of when she came to Pamplona for the first time in the company of her father, Orson Welles. (Orson Welles first came to Pamplona back in the 1940s, when he was in Spain filming El Quixote, and he returned again in 1963.)

The book costs six euros and it is being sold by Amazon for Kindle and for smartphones. All four writers are men who have both literary experience as well as experience of running the bulls in Sanfermin. While some have had more experience in running than others, all of them write well about their initiations in the bullrunning and their love for the annual event. And now they have transmitted in well-written narratives their experiences and viewpoints for all those who might find themselves in a similar situation of wishing to take on the experience of running in the bulls.

The book has been published by Mephisto Press just a few days ago and it is published in English under the title “How to Survive the Bulls of Pamplona.” The text is distributed by Kindle and it consists of 217 pages. One of the authors tells us that if anyone shows him the book in their smartphone during these coming Sanfermin fiestas, he will put his signature on the back and invite the person to a glass of wine. However, for the moment, we will not reveal the identity of this particular author.

RETARDED RUNNERS. Sorry, RETIRED RUNNERS (And a “Bullclips” update, and an R.I.P.)

So, it’s April, and the escalera to fiesta is collapsing faster and faster and there are only three months to go. I always get the big rush starting in April, as it means that the end of the long wait is nearly over. These scribblings for April are longer than usual, it’s just the way it panned out, but thanks to everyone who helped. Hope you like this month’s mixed bag of bull.

Hang on a minute, that isn’t right (or is it)…ah…I mean I hope you like this month’s mixed bag of bull runnings.

RETARDED RUNNERS. Sorry, RETIRED RUNNERS
(And a “Bullclips” update, and an R.I.P.) by Tim Pinks

Although, let’s face it, perhaps I was right the first time…maybe you have to have a bit of the nutcase in you to run with the bulls. Or some of us do. Or did… Anyway, having said that, the extraordinary photo on the left is of one of the great runners, and I can bandy around words like “great” and “nut” quite safely from my jail cell up here in my stone suite in the Tower of London, and he all nice and distant thousands of miles away in Texas.

It is a wonderful photo though, isn’t it? It shows a man not just running in front of the horns, or even on them, but in between them…and that is some trick. The man in the photo is Rex Freriks, and he really was some runner. I have been thinking for a while now of writing about a couple of the runners who so impressed me when I first went, but who have since for whatever reason retired. And by pure coincidence Rex got in touch just a few weeks ago. Regarding the above photo, I did ask him if he managed to stay on his feet or did he go somersaulting “a over t” and…well, here’s what he wrote:

“Glad you enjoyed the picture. He did send me flying. As you can see we are going up the left side of Estafeta and I was launched toward the side and not directly in front. I don’t know if you have ever noticed but there is a lot of old piping that runs down the outside of the front of the buildings on that street. I was able to grab one of those on my way down and landed on my feet. I remember the eyes of the group I landed among were as big as plates. I bet mine probably were as well.”

He then ends the letter with the words “una ciudad sin igual”. A town without equal. Ain’t that the truth.

The run from the day of the photo above. Bulls from El Pilar. July 14th 1997. Amazingly, you can see nothing of the incident described above. Less cameras in those days…

There are many reasons why some people have to stop running. Old age, sickness and of course death, sadly. Some may stop running after their first injury, some because their wives forbade them and some perhaps because they found they just couldn’t run properly anymore. And yet others still hit the streets despite knowing they can’t really run as well as they used to, and heck, some can’t even walk too good either. But they just can’t give it up, so there they are, smiling, buzzing, adding to that fantastic otherworld atmosphere and chatting to not just old friends, but no doubt new ones too. I think they have earned the right to be there for forever and a day, however they run now. I wonder if they are perhaps hoping that this is the day a miracle might happen and they’ll take off like in the old days, and be flying again.

Others I’ve heard gave up due to bum clenching, bone shaking, skin tingling fear. I’m not going to mention any names or give any clues here, but god it’s difficult to hold a pre-run drink when you feel like that. Or so I’ve heard…Anyway, all sorts of reasons and all perfect and bona fide ones to call it a day.

This was Rex’s reason. Where you or I might cycle, drive or get public transport to work, Rex took the parachute, and it was after one such outing at a place known as The Farm, where things went a little wrong, not helped subsequently by various medical muck ups that forced his hand and meant he could no longer run. I hear now one of his hips sets off car alarms for miles around and makes dogs bark.

For Rex though, the encierro was the thing, and he says it would be just too painful to come back and not be able to run. There are many others like him. But he has written to me with real emotion and feeling about what it was like for him back in the day, and the friendships he made. I’ll come back to him a little later, but there is just one more thing I’d like to say. I’ve always thought (apart from being one of the best), that he was the most modest, unassuming runner out there, and whenever anyone gathered post run at whatever bar they might go to, joder, there was some bull spoken. But not by Rex. As he said:

“Never thought about how good a run, never bought pictures. Just enjoyed it along with everything else and everyone else.”, and that’s amazing. The photo of him above is the only one he has, and that was sent to him by someone else straight to his computer. Modest to the extreme…Though if he had forked out on buying up all the photos he was in, he’d probably be pretty poor in the extreme by now, too.

Julen Madina. Estafeta. By Mikel Melero
Julen Madina. Estafeta. By Mikel Melero

Now, Julen Madina. I have to mention him, as he also was an all time great. The trouble is, I can’t really add very much to something I have already mentioned before on this site, an article and interview with Madina by the runner Bill Hillman. It really is something else, an excellent piece, and I make no apologies for mentioning it once more. I re-read it again recently, and from the simple but precise questions Bill asks (I don’t know him too well, but he does not grab me as a man who stuffs around), to the haunting honesty of Madina’s answers, well, it left me shaking…he could have died, for goodness sake.

 


But Madina’s words are chilling, so once again, you can find Bill’s posting here: thebutchersblog.wordpress.com. But as I say…it’s pretty well as definitive an article about running, the adrenaline, getting hurt…and having to give it up that you could ever read. Julen recovered from his horrific injuries and returned to run for the next several years. He only decided to retire due to becoming a father. He gave up for the very best of reasons…his daughter. Top man.

When I spoke to him on the phone just before completing this month’s wafflings, he was, as I expected, full of the enthusiasm and willingness to talk about something that was still so obviously close to his heart. I told him I wasn’t a professional writer or even an amateur one, just a guy who wrote some stuff for Kukuxumusu and who loved Pamplona, and was writing something about runners who ran no more, for whatever reason. He said it was a pleasure to talk, and away we went. I asked a question, he fired off in typical Spanish machine gun style the answers, while I tried to listen, write and translate at the same time as drinking a beer and smoking a cigarette. Men and multi-tasking? Of course we can.

But you’re going to have to wait for the Madina piece, I’m afraid, as there is too much good stuff in it and this posting is long enough already. But I hope when I do write it, I’ll do full justice to his words. Till then, Bill’s article is well worth another read.

 

Julen Madina, with Jennings behind him
Julen Madina, with Jennings behind him

Another character who seemed to be known by all and sundry was Hal “87” Jennings, and he will always be remembered for his fantastic running…amongst other things, apparently! For those of us who were new in the mid-eighties, we knew people by sight before we ever actually spoke to them, and Hal was distinctive in that he ran with the number “87” on his top. I always left these people alone and thought I’d just bide my time and earn their respect and get to know them by running as well as they did, but I never quite made the grade as a runner, (although I did have some fantastic moments), and…well, it never happened. God, how I miss it though.

When, thanks to Rex, I got in touch with Hal about this article, he didn’t send any photos at first, or write about the run, (he’s not a “this is me, me, and me” type of runner), but rather he told me more about Rex and how he was looked after. Which may or may not explain a lot, (I did mention something about “amongst other things”, above), but this is what he wrote:

“Yeah, Rex is one of the most decent human beings I have ever known. Besides being built like superman, he always had my back. I was taking so many sleeping pills to bring me down from the constant high of the Fiesta, that they started making me highly aggressive. After I punched several guys (I was a former boxer missing several teeth: clearly not a good one), Rex would always make sure not too many jumped on me. Curley kept saying to me “Don’t look at me. I don’t want to fight you”. I didn’t realize what I was doing. That said, as you can imagine, there are so many stories. Unfortunately, many lost because of my concussions”.

Hal Jennings, leading them in.
Hal Jennings, leading them in.

Hal Jennings hasn’t written anything to me about running, and I love that because of this: when I asked both Rex and Hal about their memories of running, the first thing they did was to write about the other one. But Jennings later sent me an extraordinary set of 32 photos that his girlfriend put together, and trust me when I tell you that the pictures do the talking. Which is apt really, as Rex said that Hal was one who “definitely never talked about how his run went afterwards”. So I have to use Rex’s words, as later he wrote, “One of the things Hal loved to do was position himself so as to run in front of the bulls when they ran through the tunnel. That was always too much for me, so many times I would end up behind the bulls so as to watch him take them through there. I tell you it was magic to watch and I can’t imagine the rush he must have gotten”. Always a sign of the modest runner…talking about someone else’s run.

By the way, those are my italics there, as when I made it through the tunnel or wherever, it was all I could do to concentrate on staying upright and surviving, without admiring how other runners were doing. And Rex was still running of course, he hadn’t stopped to check out the view! Also, I like his turn of phrase there, as remember earlier Hal saying that Rex was built like “superman”? Well, I don’t think you’d be able to fit a thousand pound bull and him through that tunnel…not side by side, anyway.

It can get a little crowded around the tunnel. Zubieta y Retegui / Archivo Municipal de Pamplona
It can get a little crowded around the tunnel. Zubieta y Retegui / Archivo Municipal de Pamplona

I know there are all sorts of ways to run and not run, but I truly believe that some people just have a natural rhythm and grace of running, however light footed or powerfully built they are, and I’m sure sometimes a bull thinks: “this guy, I’m going to run with this guy”…it doesn’t mean it made it any easier for the runner, but boy does it make it beautiful for those watching. Rex, Hal and others, I’m positive that, despite what you may have thought about “that bull, he’s mine”…there were times I think when they chose you.

There is more from Hal’s first email, but I’ll come back to it later or at another time…I’m trying to get in touch with a couple of other people that I wanted to write about and he mentions them, as does Rex…but I can’t find them. By the way Hal, (and after your comments above about Rex), while writing about his first (and subsequent) years in Pamplona, and how you helped him, Rex says, “I can never thank him enough and even today if he were to call and say he needed help I would be on the first plane to California”.

Hal, with a bull, then another runner with bull, then Rex with a bull, with Curly off to his left".
Hal, with a bull, then another runner with bull, then Rex with a bull, with Curly off to his left”.

Now, sorry about the little love-in there, but I just wanted to make a point in case there is anybody out there reading this who has never been to San Fermin, but is thinking of going. As so many of us already know who have had the luck to discover and fall in love with Pamplona…that’s the way some of us feel about some of our fiesta friends. Good times always happen, and bad things come to pass too, and Pamplona during fiesta can be an extraordinarily intense experience, but as long as you keep talking and sort it out, you’ll have friends for eternity that you’ll do anything for.

It has been great writing this and reliving some of the old days, and my heartfelt thanks to all those who got in touch and told me about their experiences and memories, and as a by product also brought back for me some always remembered, and deeply treasured, bull running days. And some I’d forgotten about too…did I really do that?

So to Rex and Hal and Julen, and to John Riley, who I finally found and had a cracking hours plus chat with on the phone that really brought those streets to life, and who I’m going to write about in the future, along with his brother James, (and hopefully Curly too, once he’s finished trimming his moustache), I’ve thoroughly enjoyed your responses to my request for some old, precious, and not to say priceless memories of your days in during fiesta. Your words and thoughts and the sheer joy and emotions you convey really shine through about your time in a town called Pamplona. I hope to come back to these fantastic ex-runners and others in a couple of months for the last piece I hope to do pre-fiesta.

Well, from the song with the words “una fiesta sin igual”, to Rex’s “una ciudad sin igual”, for the last time, gentlemen, un grandisimo gracias to all those runners who let me write about them a little, and perhaps ruin their running reputations a little, too. For they are surely, in their own way…”gente sin igual”. And people mad as hell, in the nicest possible way too, if you look at the picture below, taken by Gary Shrewsbury.

Mad Men. From left to right: Chris Dwyer, unknown (and hidden) man, Hal Jennings, Ron De Cook, Rex Freriks, Pete Martinez, James Curly Bailor and Rich Danner. Photo by Gary Shrewsbury".
Mad Men. From left to right: Chris Dwyer, unknown (and hidden) man, Hal Jennings, Ron De Cook, Rex Freriks, Pete Martinez, James Curly Bailor and Rich Danner. Photo by Gary Shrewsbury.

Now I hope this doesn’t lead to an outbreak of people playing their game this year, (oh alright, I do), but the picture above shows some of the No Bullshit Monkey Peña (no relation to Graeme Galloways excellent little funzine, “No Bullshit”, the NBMP were there long before the fanzine), playing “1000 to 1” with the little bulls after the bull run. The game? While playing with the vaquillas in the ring after the run, you put your foot on the page of newspaper…and you don’t move. The chances of being hit? Well, 1000 to 1, apparently…And I’ve played it. Ow. Ow ow ow…

1000 to 1...The No Bullshit Monkey Peña".
1000 to 1…The No Bullshit Monkey Peña.

 Gracias, señores y señoras. ¡Ya falta menos! ¡Viva San Fermin!

An update about March’s article, “Bullclippings”, and an R.I.P.

There is a famous photo shown in last month’s article from 1960 of the human traffic jam in Estafeta. I mention a man just behind the bulls, looking like he’s out for a Sunday stroll, cigarette in mouth, elegant in a suit and open-necked shirt, looking for all the world as if he’s thinking…”Oh, what’s going on here?”.

July 1960. The mountain in Estafeta".
July 1960. The mountain in Estafeta”.

I wondered about who he was, whilst hoping in my heart it was the legendary Matt Carney. Happily, his daughter Deirdre Carney wrote and said, “Well, he’s wearing a suit, as did my dad, he looks nonchalant, which he would have been and clearly blond…I don’t know for sure but it does kind of scream Matt Carney”.

In a later message: “Hey so my mom said it really looks like him and his style of walking. She doesn’t know for sure either but both of us felt it was him immediately. I don’t know if that helps. But who else would walk up to a pile-up smoking a ciggie?”

Who else indeed…I’ll leave the last words to Dave Pierce: “It was Matt. Not only was I in that pile-up but started it to my shame”. Few words, but perfectly said.

I think we’ve gone definitive on that then. But about the pile up Dave…more please!

Rest In Peace, Joe Moskaluk. Run In Paradise, Big Joe.

Joe, in the bright shirt, sitting at the heart of things…amongst amigos.
Joe, in the bright shirt, sitting at the heart of things…amongst amigos.

Sometimes someone passes away that you hear so much about you wish you’d known them. I didn’t know Joe Moskaluk, but he died very recently, towards the end of March as I was writing this, and the messages that I have seen doing the rounds have been truly touching. Here are just a few of the thoughts (as they wrote them) of some of those who knew him. And loved him.

Amongst what Bunny Centurion wrote, I’ve chosen this: “Our Pamplona family has lost another member, always too soon. Rest in peace Papa Joe you will be in our hearts every morning this July and always”.

“Very, very sad. Joe was a man’s man, a good man, a gentleman.” Jeffrey Hare.

“A saint indeed, standing alone and one of a kind, shedding light with his humour when things seemed so dark. What I would give for one more breakfast at Tres Reyes and a couple of cigars thereafter. You I will remember always”. Leon Friedrichsen.

“God Bless you and watch over you Joe”. Junerose Conlin.

“I don’t want to imagine a world without Big Joe”. Carl Butrum.

“A wonderful man Joe. He will be missed”. Bob Smokey Clark.

“Our lives all were so much better for knowing Joe, he was one of a kind, cigar smoking will never be the same”. Steven Kendler.

1994. Ready to run.
1994. Ready to run.

“We have lost a guy who probably loved us more than we will ever know…” Rick Musica, who wrote so much more, but I love that particular quote.

“For those of you who knew him, he was a special man. He was a great lover of life, and he lived it well and heartily.
You could see it in the twinkle of his eyes, and in his smile and his laughter.
You could see it in his love for Belle.
You could see it in his love for his family.
You could see it in his love for Spain.
You could see it in his love for the bulls.
You could see it in his sense of humour.
I loved Joe for many reasons, and I will miss him very, very much.
Abrazos”.

That last one was from Yoav Spicehandler, and that says it all, about a man I didn’t even know, but wish I had.

Joe with his beloved Belle.
Joe with his beloved Belle.

Chinese waiter training.

And now, something I hope will put a little smile on the faces of those up in the Great Fiesta in the Sky, and those still here on beautiful Planet Earth. I’ve often wondered how the Chinese waiters cope and survive during San Fermin, having to handle some of us lot, and after much research, I have found a video of the passing out parade for those selected for Pamplona during fiesta, after no doubt a gruelling, Ghurka style training course:

This has been a long one, hasn’t it? But look on the bright side…ya falta a little bit less now…

 

 

 

Chupinazo de Sanfermin. © Jim Hollander.

STAIRWAY TO SEVEN by Tim Pinks

Cover Photo: Jim Hollander.

Well, if I’ve survived the party and the resulting hangover, it’s now 2012 and I’m in Holland with some of our peña, (the peña that doesn’t exist)… perhaps just call it The Lost Peña, though we do have another name… Anyway, a new year can mean a new beginning,but it also means, for those of us who love Pamplona and its fiesta, that it’s the real start to the countdown that leads to July and the Fiesta of San Fermin.

Now, as always, the townsfolk of that wonderful town are well ahead of us, as they already have a song to mark the start of the new year and the inexorable march towards July and armageddon. Sorry, fiesta. It’s called the Escalera, and I’m sure most of you know it, but for those who have never heard it.

Uno de enero,
Dos de febrero,
Tres de marzo,
Cuatro de abril,
Cinco de mayo,
Seis de junio,
Siete de julio San Fermin.
A Pamplona hemos de ir,
Con una media, con una media,
A Pamplona hemos de ir,
Con una media y un calcetin.

The meaning of the first part is fairly obvious, but the second part maybe not so. All it means is “To Pamplona we have to go, with a stocking, with a stocking. To Pamplona we have to go, with a stocking and a sock”. No, I have no idea what the sock and stocking bit is about, or if it has some other hidden meaning, (actually, with some of our lot, it does!). Well, have you ever had to use those plastic portaloos in an emergency? Anyway, I have asked and been told there is no other secret significance, though my guess is the writer had been on the patxaran over the new year…

ignaciobaleztena

It’s a simple song with simple words, written by an extraordinary man. His name was Ignacio Baleztena Azcarate, and he was born in 1887 and died on the second of April, 1972. He was many things in his lifetime. A lawyer, writer, politician and Carlist. But he was also a Navarran, and immersed into the language and folklore not just of the region, but of the Basque Country. He wrote many things throughout his lifetime, writing for not just the present day Diario de Navarra but for other newspapers and publications now long defunct.

But he also wrote poetry, and stories…and songs and music. Along with the “Riau-Riau”, probably his other most widely known and sung song, the Escalera continues to be popular today, nearly a hundred years after it was written. On his excellent website, http://premindeiruna.blogspot.com, his son Javier has a mountain of information about his father, from which I have gathered most of the material for this piece. I don’t think I’ve made any mistakes, but my apologies if my translation is a bit wonky at any point.

He took popular melodies from the mountains, many written by one Silvano Cervantes, and adapted them to fit his words, and a century later we are still singing and dancing along to them. This is also the case for the Riau-Riau, which almost certainly first happened in 1911 after a more or less spontaneous act by Ignacio and his friends. Twenty years later, he was to form the peña Muthiko Alaiak, still in existence and the second oldest in Pamplona after the peña La Unica. For the centenary during last years San Fermin, the peña commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Riau – Riau on their banner.

Pancarta Mutilzarra 2011.
Pancarta Mutilzarra 2011.

One more thing before moving on and finishing. In 1912 during fiesta, it appeared that two Englishmen had taken part in the encierro. Yup, it’s that man again, and a friend of his. For one of the bullruns they decided to dress up as colonial Englishmen. Baleztena dressed up in morning coat and breeches, large sideburns, wearing a hat and enormous glasses, and carrying a large camera and tripod, made out of cardboard but very authentic looking, while his friend Emilio Malumbres dressed as an Andulucian, (maybe that’s what they thought some Englishmen looked like, I’m not too sure!), carrying a suitcase.

It appears that even in those days that kind of thing was frowned upon in the bull run, and they had to hide from the chief of police, de Reta, in the Hotel Maissonave, back in the day when it was situated on the run. They did the “valientes” run, and took off with the early runners and made it inside the ring, to general amusement all round, whereupon his friend put down his suitcase and Baleztena set up his “camera”, in the middle of the ring to even greater laughter. They must have looked quite a sight, especially as Baleztena was tall and slim, while his friend was short and chubby.

There, with typical British “phlegm”, as he later described it, Baleztena proceeded to “film” the bullrunners while his great friend stood around “directing”, to even greater hilarity. At the last possible moment they abandoned their props and ran to the side and vaulted over the barrier.Their escapade was talked about for years in Pamplona, not suprisingly. Fifty years later, an article appeared in Diario de Navarra remembering the day.

diariodenavarra1912
Which I suppose brings me nicely to the bull run, and closing time. Ah yes, the bull run. Whether you do the run or not, even here his influence still lingers. If you have ever danced to the “Dianas” with the town hall band, either after a hard nights partying or for a morning warm and wake up, you’ll have danced to a few of his tunes. An hour or so later, it’s bull run time, and if you have done it once or a hundred times, there is nothing more I can say. But if you haven’t, and are thinking about going this year and running for the first time, I can’t do much better than direct you to the runner Bill Hillman and his excellent article and interview with the great Julen Madina, at: http://www.thebutchersblog.wordpress.com/julen-madina-complete-interview

And you’ll find the video, too. Ouch. Madina has retired now, for the very best of reasons, but of all the things he says in the article, one still sticks with me. It’s that whenever he hears of or sees the run, it makes him cry, no doubt because of the sheer emotion of having to give it up. And this from one of the greatest and toughest runners of all time.

Malumbres.
Malumbres.

The data of the bullranches for the running of the bulls of Sanfermin 2023

The Casa de Misericordia has communicated through the bullfighting commission that it has completed the contracting of the farms for the next one and has announced the farms that will participate in the 2023 Bull Fair . Therefore, we already know the herds for the running of the bulls of San Fermín 2023 . The farms that will star in the running of the bulls and bullfights next year are: Miura , from Lora del Río, Seville; Victoriano del Río , from Guadalix de la Sierra, Madrid; Heirs of José Cebada Gago , from Medina Sidonia, Cádiz; Jandilla , from Merida, Badajoz; José Escolar Gil, from Lanzahíta, Ávila; Nunez del Cuvillo, from Vejer de la Frontera, Cádiz; Fuente Ymbro , from San José del Valle, Cádiz; and La Palmosilla , from Tarifa, Cádiz.

In addition, for the corrida de rejones, burels from El Capea-Carmen Lorenzo, from San Pelayo de la Guareña, Salamanca; and for the bullfight, cattle from the Pincha Ganadería , from Lodosa, Navarra.

The most outstanding data of the confinement to be able to compare.

  • The fastest running of the bulls in the modern history of the Sanfermines was held on 07/14/2015 with 2’05” with Miura bulls.
  • The running of the bulls with the most gorings was held on 07/12/2004 with jandilla bulls and eight registered gorings.
  • In the last four editions of Sanfermin, 58,136 people have run the running of the bulls -according to the Pamplona City Council-. 24 people have been gored, representing 0.041% of the total.
  • The slowest running of the bulls in San Fermín was held on 07/09/2002, with bulls from Santiago Domecq and lasted up to 11’57”.
  • Cebada Gago is the 1st cattle farm that has left the most gorings (59 in total).
  • Miura is the 1st farm that has left the most injuries due to trauma (199 in total).
  • Miura is the 1st cattle farm that caused the most injuries (219 in total).
  • El Callejón is the section with the most gorings: 67 , (22.48% of the total).
  • The Town Hall is the section with fewer gorings: 24, (8.05% of the total).
  • Cebada Gago is the farm that has left the most gorings in Santo Domingo (11 in 47 bull runs).
  • Cebada Gago is the cattle ranch that has left the most gorings in City Hall (4 in 47 bull runs).
  • Jandilla is the cattle ranch that has left the most gorings in Mercaderes (6 in 47 bull runs).
  • Cebada Gago is the farm that has left the most gorings in Estafeta (15 in 47 bull runs).
  • Cebada Gago is the cattle ranch that has left the most gorings in Telefónica (8 in 47 confinements).
  • Cebada Gago is the ranch that has left the most gorings in Callejón (16 in 47 confinements).

The data of the bullranches for the running of the bulls of San Fermín 2023

The bulls that will participate in the Sanfermin 2023 festivities have starred in the last two editions of the festivities and already leave us data that we want to share in case it allows us to obtain any clues that will serve as an advantage for those who decide to accompany the burels through the streets of Pamplona on next years. If you want to see the running of the bulls, you already have the balconies available to watch the running of the bulls in the Sanfermin.com online store .

MIURA

Image by Natalia Gomez. Sanfermin 2022
  • Miura has participated in 40 running of the bulls in the modern history of Sanfermin. Five sanfermines could be held in a row to match the number of Miura bulls that have roamed the streets of Pamplona.
  • Miura ‘s last race in Pamplona was completed in 2’12?, marking the 4th fastest running of the bulls in the history of Sanfermin . In addition, it was the fastest running of the bulls held on a Thursday.
  • In 40 participations, Miura has left 20 gorings (0.5 per confinement).
  • Miura is the 5th stud farm that has left the most gorings (20 in total).
  • The Miura bulls have left gorings in 12 of 40 races.
  • Miura is the 1st cattle farm that has left the most injuries due to trauma (199 in total).
  • Miura is the 1st cattle farm that causes the most injuries (219 in total).
  • Of Miura’s 40 running of the bulls in Sanfermín, this was the 4th with the shortest duration (2’12»).
  • Mercaderes is the section where Miura has left the most gorings (5 in 40 running of the bulls).
  • Ayuntamiento is the section where Miura has left the least gored (1 in 40 running of the bulls).

VICTORIANO DEL RÍO

Image by Monica Sarasa. Sanfermin 2022
  • 11 Participations in the running of the bulls in Pamplona.
  • The Victoriano del Río bulls ran through the streets of Pamplona at Sanfermin in 2022 in 2’13¨, equaling the record for this ranch established in the running of the bulls on 07/12/2016 .
  • The slowest running of the bulls in Victoriano del Río was recorded on 07/09/2014 (3’23») .
  • The Victoriano del Río bulls are not among the ten fastest Sanfermin herds, but they are in 12th position , precisely with two races at 2’13?.
  • In 11 participations, Victoriano del Rio has left 5 gorings (0.45 per confinement) and is in thirteenth position in the ranking of the most dangerous herds based on recorded gorings.
  • Victoriano del Rio is the 18th farm with the highest average number of injuries due to trauma (4.64 per confinement).
  • Telefónica is the section where Victoriano del Rio has left the most gorings (3 in 11 running of the bulls).

CEBADA GAGO

Image by Javier Mutilva.
  • Cebada Gago has participated in 32 running of the bulls in San Fermín.
  • The Cebada Gago bulls completed their last running of the bulls on July 11, 2022 in 3’06? and left three three gorings .
  • In 32 participations Cebada Gago has left 59 gored (1.84 per confinement).
  • Cebada Gago is the 1st cattle farm that has left the most gorings (59 in total).
  • Cebada Gago is the 6th ranch with the highest goring average (1.84 per confinement).
  • Of 32 participations, Cebada Gago has left gorings in 21 running of the bulls.
  • Cebada Gago is the 2nd cattle farm that has left the most injuries due to trauma (130 in total).
  • Cebada Gago is the 2nd cattle ranch that causes the most injuries (189 in total).
  • Cebada Gago is the farm that has left the most gorings in Santo Domingo (11 in 47 bull runs).
  • Cebada Gago is the cattle ranch that has left the most gorings in City Hall (4 in 47 bull runs).
  • Cebada Gago is the farm that has left the most gorings in Estafeta (15 in 47 bull runs).
  • Cebada Gago is the cattle ranch that has left the most gorings in Telefónica (8 in 47 confinements).
  • Cebada Gago is the ranch that has left the most gorings in Callejón (16 in 47 confinements).
  • Callejón is the section where Cebada Gago has left the most gorings (16 in 32 running of the bulls).
  • Mercaderes is the section where Cebada Gago has left the least gored (3 in 32 bull runs).

JANDILLA

Image by Javier Mutilva
  • Jandilla has participated in 21 encierros in the modern era of encierros.
  • Jandilla’s last running of the bulls in Pamplona, ??on July 12, 2022, was the fastest of this herd with 2’13?.
  • Jandilla’s slowest running of the bulls was the one on 07/11/2005, which lasted 5’33”.
  • In 21 participations Jandilla has left 32 gored (1.52 per confinement).
  • Jandilla is the 2nd cattle ranch that has left the most gorings (32 in total).
  • Jandilla is the 9th ranch with the highest goring average (1.52 per encierro).
  • In 21 participations, it is the 11th time that Jandilla has been gored.
  • Jandilla is the 3rd cattle ranch that has left the most injuries due to trauma (117 in total).
  • Jandilla is the 3rd cattle ranch that causes the most injuries (149 in total).
  • Callejón is the section where Jandilla has left the most gorings (10 in 21 confinements).
  • Jandilla is the cattle ranch that has left the most gorings in Mercaderes (6 in 47 bull runs).
  • Estafeta is the stretch where Jandilla has left the least gored (2 in 21 running of the bulls).

JOSÉ ESCOLAR

Image by Miguel Fernandez. Sanfermin 2022
  • José Escolar’s cattle farm has participated six times in the Sanfermin running of the bulls.
  • No bull from José Escolar returned , as they did in 2016, 2016 and 2017.
  • Santo Domingo is the stretch where Jose Escolar has left the most gorings (2 in 6 running of the bulls).
  • Of the 6 running of the bulls by Jose Escolar in Sanfermín, the fastest was held on 07/09/2019 in 2’13”.
  • Of the 6 running of the bulls by Jose Escolar in Sanfermín, the slowest was held on 07/08/2017, completed in 4’03”.
  • In 6 participations, Jose Escolar has left 10 gorings (1.67 per confinement).
  • Jose Escolar is the 9th stud farm that has left the most gorings (10 in total).
  • Jose Escolar is the 8th stud farm with the highest goring average (1.67 per encierro).
  • In 6 participations it is the 4th time that Jose Escolar leaves gored.
  • In 6 participations, Jose Escolar has left 38 injured due to trauma (6.33 due to confinement).
  • Jose Escolar is the 6th stud farm with the highest average number of injuries due to trauma (6.33 per confinement).
  • In 6 participations Jose Escolar has left 48 injured (8 due to confinement).
  • Jose Escolar is the 3rd ranch with the highest average number of injuries (8 per confinement).

NUNEZ DEL CUVILLO

Image of Juan Ignacio Delgado
  • The Núñez del Cuvillo cattle farm has participated 11 times in the Sanfermin running of the bulls.
  • In 11 participations Nunez del Cuvillo has left 11 gored (1 by confinement).
  • Nunez del Cuvillo is the 8th stud farm that has left the most gorings (11 in total).
  • Nunez del Cuvillo is the 14th stud farm with the highest goring rate (1 per confinement).
  • In 11 participations it is the 5th time that Nunez del Cuvillo has not been gored.
  • Nunez del Cuvillo is the 6th cattle farm that has left the most injuries due to trauma (55 in total).
  • Nunez del Cuvillo is the 6th cattle ranch that causes the most injuries (66 in total).
  • Of the 11 running of the bulls for Nunez del Cuvillo in Sanfermín, this was the 8th longest (2’25”). The slowest was 07/09/2004 (4’4»).
  • Santo Domingo is the section where Nunez del Cuvillo has left the most gorings (6 in 11 confinements) .

FUENTE YMBRO

Image by Manuel Corera
  • The Fuente Ymbro cattle ranch Fuente Ymbro has participated 15 times in the Sanfermin running of the bulls.
  • In 15 participations Fuente Ymbro has left 5 gorings (0.33 per bull run).
  • In 15 participations it is the 11th time that Fuente Ymbro has not been gored.
  • Fuente Ymbro is the 5th farm with the most injuries due to trauma (67 in total).
  • Fuente Ymbro is the 5th most injured cattle farm (72 in total).
  • The fastest encierro of Fuente Ymbro was the one on 07/10/2018 completed in 2’10”.
  • The slowest encierro of Fuente Ymbro ran on 07/09/2010, completed in 6’23”.
  • Estafeta is the section where Fuente Ymbro has left the most gorings (3 in 15 running of the bulls).

LA PALMOSILLA

Image by Javier Ibañez
  • In 2 participations, La Palmosilla has never been gored.
  • In 2 participations La Palmosilla has left 8 injured by trauma (4 by confinement).
  • Of the 2 running of the bulls at La Palmosilla in Sanfermín, the fastest was on 07/13/2019, which lasted 2’12”.