Runners hit Pamplona's streets for annual dash with the bulls
The running of the bulls is a wild spectacle, as usual12 hours agoDuration 1:18It was the first day of the bull run at the San Fermin Festival in Pamplona, Spain, on Friday. Four people were injured, officials said, but nobody was gored.Thousands of thrill seekers took part Friday in the first running of the bulls at the San Fermin festival in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona.Four people were reported to have suffered injuries in the 8 a.m. event, but no one was gored by the beasts, a frequent feature of the spectacle.The festival attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists. Nearly 1.7 million people visited Pamplona for the celebrations in 2022, and forecasts are higher for this year with all COVID-19 constraints ended.In the run, six bulls guided by six tame oxen charged along a route through Pamplona's streets for around two minutes and 30 seconds before reaching the bullring.The festival was made famous by Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises. This year marks the 10
Thousands of thrill seekers took part Friday in the first running of the bulls at the San Fermin festival in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona.
Four people were reported to have suffered injuries in the 8 a.m. event, but no one was gored by the beasts, a frequent feature of the spectacle.
The festival attracts hundreds of thousands of tourists. Nearly 1.7 million people visited Pamplona for the celebrations in 2022, and forecasts are higher for this year with all COVID-19 constraints ended.
In the run, six bulls guided by six tame oxen charged along a route through Pamplona's streets for around two minutes and 30 seconds before reaching the bullring.
The festival was made famous by Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises. This year marks the 100th anniversary of Hemingway's first visit to the festival.
Friday's run was the first of eight scheduled. The rest of the day usually includes massive sessions of drinking, eating and attending cultural events.
16 people have died since 1910
Four runners were gored in the festival last year. Sixteen people have died in bull runs since 1910, most recently in 2009.
The bulls that run each morning are killed in the afternoon by professional bullfighters.
Animal rights activists annually campaign against the festival, claiming it is cruel to animals.
Destino Navarra, an official tour guide group, said visitors from the United States and Canada represent 70 per cent of its total bookings for this year's festival.
Expert bull runners, mostly locals, try to sprint at full steam just in the front of the bull horns before peeling off at the last second. The inexperienced, a group that includes mostly foreigners, do well enough to scramble out of the way, often ending up in piles of fellow runners.
Almost everyone in Pamplona wears the traditional white shirt and pants with red sash and neckerchief during the colourful festival.
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