Seven runners have suffered bruises on their faces, arms and legs and one of them suffered head trauma with loss of consciousness in the fifth running of the bulls of San Fermin, the fastest this year, but none of them were gored by bulls, according to the medical report. More or less the same as every day.
The truth is that the San Fermín bull runs are all as similar as two peas in a pod because the protagonists and conditions of the races don’t change: bulls trained to run, elite athletes competing in the San Fermín Olympics, a non-slip liquid that prevents the animals from slipping, losing the herd and trying to defend themselves from the harassers in red and white, and runners, many each year, who get in each other’s way, block the bulls from passing, fall and suffer bruises on their faces, arms and legs when they hit the ground hard.
Ainhoa Tejerina (EFE)
Ainhoa Tejerina (EFE)
But long gone are those races in which the medical report was bloody from the wounds caused by bulls that were seen alone in the street, surrounded by young men, from whom they defended themselves with goring. Long gone are the emotions inherent to the traditional bull runs, which is why they have achieved worldwide fame.
There was little to report on today’s race, apart from the performance of six four-legged athletes, happy to be racing again, although surprised by the new setting in which they performed.
It has not been obvious that they are this year’s rookies; it is the first time that Domingo Hernández has run in San Fermín, and the novelty was combined with uncertainty about how they might behave in the race.
But there were no surprises: noble, with their gaze fixed on their short horizon and isolated from the hustle and bustle of the route, the bulls ran at a hellish speed, overcame the obstacles in the path and broke a record, the fastest run so far this fair: 2 minutes and 13 seconds.
As every morning, the steers have taken the lead in the race on the Cuesta de Santo Domingo. Before reaching the Town Hall square, a black-coated bull has overtaken them and has swept the runners down the Calle Mercaderes at high speed, so that it has not been able to avoid the collision, slight in this case, with the planks that mark the beginning of Calle Estafeta. Those who followed it took note and none of them suffered the bad experience of the collision with the wall.
The next long stretch was like a 100-metre race. The bulls ran as if their lives depended on it – it is their daily habit, by the way – and their only concern was to get away from the runners who were in their way. Hence, as every morning, the usual accidents and falls.
They may have been novices, but no bull moved towards the fence of the alleyway leading into the square enough to endanger those who remained there, and the entire herd entered the ring, instantly finding the door to the pens and disappearing in a flash.
They are already resting from the morning hustle and bustle Molinito, Ostentatious, Genoese, Lunatic, Crazy y Rapturewhich weigh between 525 and 595 kilos, and which this afternoon will be fought by the bullfighters Alejandro Talavante, Daniel Luque and Juan Ortega, who, like the bulls, makes his debut at the San Fermín Fair today.