Photography: Miguel Hernández
The eighth and final running of the bulls of Sanfermin 2011, featuring the Nuñez del Cuvillo bulls from Cadiz on the sixth visit of this bull-ranch to Pamplona, turned out to be another fast clean running (2min 20sec.). The bulls behaved very gallantly and hardly made any attempts to charge at the runners. It was in Estafeta Street that the best and most spectacular running was to be seen, when the bulls had overtaken the bell-oxen and the runners were able to get in close in front of the horns.
From the outset, the bull-oxen were leading the bulls over the early stretches of the course. When the pack entered the corner of Mercaderes and Estafeta the pack loosened up and some of the bulls now took the lead. A black bull and a light-brown-colored one both raced ahead of the others and this gave the runners the perfect chance to get in in front of the horns, particularly when the light-brown bull took up the leading position.
A black bull slipped up on entering the Mercaderes stretch but it quickly got back on its feet and darted forward to join the rest of the pack, without creating any sense of danger or attempting to threaten the runners.
In Estafeta Street the runners got a real chance to show off their skills in front of the horns on this final day of the running of the bulls of Sanfermin 2011 and some eye-catching running pleased the watching public all along this stretch of the course.
The bulls entered the bullring in a loose file with the light-brown bull still leading the way, followed by three other bulls behind that ran alongside the bell-oxen. Coming up in the rear were the other two bulls, one behind the other. They covered the whole course in a fast time of just 2 min 20sec.