The Miura bulls have starred in what has been, perhaps, the most exciting, and also dangerous, running of the bulls of the 2024 Sanfermines; not in vain do they belong to a legendary bullfighting brand that today has covered its 56th run and have left the bar very high for fast, clever and difficult bulls.
Seven runners were treated by the medical services for various bruises on their arms, shoulders and chest injuries, according to the provisional report, but the images of the race have given the impression that there were many more injured in this fast race that the bulls covered in a time of two minutes and 22 seconds.
Before eight o’clock in the morning, the bulls and oxen were already ready for the feat that they surely suspected they would have to experience; it would serve them well to be the most veteran of this festival and to have privileged information from their predecessors.
SERGIO MARTIN (EFE)
J.P. Urdiroz (EFE)
As they knew that every morning the oxen take the lead on the Cuesta de Santo Domingo, today the tables were turned and it was a dark-brown bull that, mustering national pride, accelerated in the first few metres and took first place, at breakneck speed, and alone, climbed up to the area of the Town Hall.
In his mad dash, surely with his eyes lost and his spirits dazed by so much fuss and unexpected visitors, he knocked down several waiters, and at the turn at the beginning of Calle Mercaderes he saw three young men moving restlessly against the wall. He went up to them and turned the three of them into an instant and spectacular sandwich that, apparently, did not go any further.
The same miura continued down Mercaderes, now overtaken by a chestnut companion, and almost at the same time they reached the planks at the end of the street. There, the fastest of the herd saw a grey-haired knight standing on one of the planks and said good morning to him in his unique cattle-breeding language: he stuck his snout and entire face into his belly, lifted him up and, fortunately, the horns rocked him without drawing blood.
This incident allowed the rest of the pack to join up at the start of Estafeta Street, where another veteran-looking runner wearing an orange shirt found himself trapped between the animals and the wall, and also emerged unscathed from such a difficult situation.
From this point on, the race was different. The steers, who also have their pride, took the lead accompanied by two chestnut bulls, and allowed for beautiful and long races, not exempt from the usual falls.
Curiously, one of the bulls slipped and took a while to regain its verticality, which stretched the herd before reaching the Telefónica area and the alley. There were no incidents there and the entrance to the ring was staggered and clean. When the clock marked two minutes and 22 seconds, the last bull was lost and the 2024 San Fermín bull runs came to an end.
Thus, Tahonero, Dobladores, Estornino, Chirrino, Pandereto, Palmitiño, four red bulls and two chestnut bulls, weighing between 555 and 650 kilos, are now resting in the corrals of the bullring. This afternoon they will be fought by Antonio Ferrera, Manuel Escribano and Jesús E. Colombo in the eighth and last of this Bull Fair.