Photography: Mikel Lasa
The first Running of the Bulls of this year’s Sanfermines, featuring the Fuente Ymbro bull ranch was quite fast and clean. The bulls behaved very nobly and there were only five people treated for bruising, two of these at the City Hall square, another runner at Santo Domingo while a fourth runner received treatment at the Teléfonica stretch.
Today’s running had its moments of danger, particularly at the Mercaderes stretch where a dun-colored bull charged ahead of the pack and knocked over several runners at the fencing on the left side. However, none of the bulls made any attempt to charge the runners.
The bulls had come out of the pens in a tight pack tucked behind the leading bull-oxen. But one of the bulls started to fall behind while another – the dun-colored one – raced ahead at Mercaderes and led the way all along Estafeta Street until it finally slipped up. This same animal knocked over several runners with another bull at the corner of Mercaderes but none of the bulls made any attempt to charge the runners.
At the final stretch leading into the bull ring, there were also some moments of danger when several fallen runners where run over by one of the bulls but again these Fuente Ymbro bulls made no attempt to charge at any runners and they entered the bull ring totally ignoring all around them and headed quickly towards the pens in quick file.