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Associated Press
13-07-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
At Pamplona's San Fermín festival, a tiny minority of women run with bulls
PAMPLONA, Spain (AP) — Dressed in the traditional bull runner's garb of a white shirt and red neck-scarf, Yomara Martínez, 30, sprinted in the death-defying morning run or 'encierros' taking place this week in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona. Yet despite being in a crowd of thousands, Martínez was among only a handful of women daredevils running with the stampeding bulls at the San Fermín Festival. 'At the end of the day, the bull doesn't know about sexes, age or body shape,' Martinez said. 'It doesn't matter if you are woman.' Every year, thousands of people line the medieval streets of Pamplona to witness the centuries-old tradition of running with bulls. Many watch from balconies and wooden barricades along the course. Millions more follow the spectacle on television. Women bull runners are rare, though Martínez and other women taking part in the adrenaline-fueled tradition as more than mere spectators say it's growing in popularity. 'There are times I feel small. And ask myself 'what am I doing here?' Because, although you may not want to, you do feel slightly inferior because of your physique,' said 32-year-old Sara Puñal, an administrator who took part in Sunday's run. 'But in the moment, you are all equal,' Puñal said of the run. The bulls pound along the twisting cobblestone streets after being led by six steers. Up to 4,000 runners take part in each bull run, which takes place over 846 meters (2,775 feet) and can last two to four minutes. The expert Spanish runners try to sprint just in front of the bull's horns for a few seconds while egging the animal on with a rolled newspaper. Gorings are not rare, but many more people are bruised and injured in falls and pileups with each other. 'I think many have a desire to see what it feels like but they don't try because of fear,' said Paula López, 32, a shop assistant who also took part in a run earlier in the week. López said she grew up in the masculine world of bull fighting. She wasn't fazed by how few women take part in the event. 'It's complicated, but it is pretty exciting,' López said. The event's reputation took a hit years ago following complaints by women about having suffered sexual harassment and abuse from revelers. In 2016, five men raped an 18-year-old woman during the festival in an infamous case that sparked an outcry across Spain. The men, who had a WhatsApp group named 'La Manada,' or 'The Animal Pack,' were imprisoned for 15 years by the Supreme Court in 2019. Since then, organizers have said they've stepped up security measures. Women didn't participate in the bull runs until 1975 due to a decree repealed one year earlier that prohibited women, children and the elderly from being in the streets where the bulls run during the festival. The spectacle was made internationally famous by Ernest Hemingway's classic 1926 novel 'The Sun Also Rises,' about American bohemians wasting away in Europe. —— Naishadham reported from Madrid.


The Independent
13-07-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
At Pamplona's San Fermín festival, a tiny minority of women run with bulls
Dressed in the traditional bull runner's garb of a white shirt and red neck-scarf, Yomara Martínez, 30, sprinted in the death-defying morning run or 'encierros' taking place this week in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona. Yet despite being in a crowd of thousands, Martínez was among only a handful of women daredevils running with the stampeding bulls at the San Fermín Festival. 'At the end of the day, the bull doesn't know about sexes, age or body shape,' Martinez said. 'It doesn't matter if you are woman.' Every year, thousands of people line the medieval streets of Pamplona to witness the centuries-old tradition of running with bulls. Many watch from balconies and wooden barricades along the course. Millions more follow the spectacle on television. Women bull runners are rare, though Martínez and other women taking part in the adrenaline-fueled tradition as more than mere spectators say it's growing in popularity. 'There are times I feel small. And ask myself 'what am I doing here?' Because, although you may not want to, you do feel slightly inferior because of your physique,' said 32-year-old Sara Puñal, an administrator who took part in Sunday's run. 'But in the moment, you are all equal,' Puñal said of the run. The bulls pound along the twisting cobblestone streets after being led by six steers. Up to 4,000 runners take part in each bull run, which takes place over 846 meters (2,775 feet) and can last two to four minutes. The expert Spanish runners try to sprint just in front of the bull's horns for a few seconds while egging the animal on with a rolled newspaper. Gorings are not rare, but many more people are bruised and injured in falls and pileups with each other. 'I think many have a desire to see what it feels like but they don't try because of fear,' said Paula López, 32, a shop assistant who also took part in a run earlier in the week. López said she grew up in the masculine world of bull fighting. She wasn't fazed by how few women take part in the event. 'It's complicated, but it is pretty exciting,' López said. The event's reputation took a hit years ago following complaints by women about having suffered sexual harassment and abuse from revelers. In 2016, five men raped an 18-year-old woman during the festival in an infamous case that sparked an outcry across Spain. The men, who had a WhatsApp group named 'La Manada,' or 'The Animal Pack,' were imprisoned for 15 years by the Supreme Court in 2019. Since then, organizers have said they've stepped up security measures. Women didn't participate in the bull runs until 1975 due to a decree repealed one year earlier that prohibited women, children and the elderly from being in the streets where the bulls run during the festival. The spectacle was made internationally famous by Ernest Hemingway's classic 1926 novel 'The Sun Also Rises,' about American bohemians wasting away in Europe. —— Naishadham reported from Madrid.


CTV News
08-07-2025
- CTV News
One man gored and seven others bruised in Spain's bull running festival
Revelers run with bulls from Fuente Ymbro ranch during the first day of the running of the bulls at the San FermÌn fiestas in Pamplona, Spain, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Miguel Oses) PAMPLONA, Spain -- A man was gored and seven others lightly injured on Tuesday, the second day of Pamplona's San Fermin festival in which thousands of people line the medieval city's narrow streets for the centuries-old tradition of running with bulls. The man who was gored, identified only as being older than 25, was injured by a bull horn under his right armpit, a spokesperson for the city emergency services said. 'At this time, he is under observation but is in stable condition,' she told reporters. The seven others suffered bruises and contusions, some in the shoulder or head. In the festival's 'encierros,' or bull runs, fighting bulls are set loose in the streets and then race to reach the bullfight arena. Hundreds of aficionados, many wearing traditional white shirts with red scarves, run with them. On Tuesday morning, one of the bulls stopped in the middle of his run, and charged the runners for several tense minutes. The festival, which gained international fame from Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel 'The Sun Also Rises,' lasts for one week in early July. Participants are occasionally gored at the hundreds of such bull-running fiestas in Spain every year. Other injuries are common. At least 16 runners have lost their lives at the Pamplona festival down the years, the last in 2009. As well as the morning bull runs and afternoon bullfights, the San Fermin festival features round-the-clock singing, dancing and drinking by revelers. There are also religious events in honor of the saint. Reporting by Albert Gea; Writing by Inti Landauro; Editing by Aidan Lewis, Reuters


Daily Mail
07-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Pamplona bull-runners are tossed around and trampled with at least six injured under the hooves of rampaging animals as famous Spanish festival gets underway
Six Pamplona bull-runners have been rushed to hospital with injuries after being trampled by the rampaging animals on the first day of the famous Running of the Bulls festival in northern Spain. Medics confirmed the casualty toll half an hour after runners risked their lives this morning putting themselves in front of six fighting bulls led by six steers as they sprinted along the half-mile run through the streets of Pamplona's old town. The famous festival in the northern Spanish town kicked off at midday yesterday with the traditional San Fermin opening ceremony called the Chupinazo. But two of the six fighting bulls became detached from the rest of the group shortly after ranchers let them out of their pens. The animals, from the Fuente Ymbro farm in Spain's south-west province of Cadiz, included one called Zalagarda which is the heaviest of this year's bull runs and weighs in at a whopping 610 kilos which is 96 stone. According to El Pais, five people suffered bruises and one suffered a leg injury, although it has not been specified whether it was the result of a goring. The nationalities of those hurt today is not yet known. All are thought to be men. During the festival, thousands of revellers dressed in the traditional white outfits with a red bandana around their necks ending up soaked in wine and sangria. A participant is hit by a young cow in the bullring after the first 'encierro' (bull-run) of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, northern Spain, on July 7, 2025 Images showed onlookers lining the streets and cheering as the bulls trampled past among the runners. 'As usual, the straight stretch of this street was crowded with young men and a few young women, many of whom were run over, fell, and trampled by bulls and steers,' reported El Pais. This morning's 8am run, which lasted two minutes 37 seconds and ended with the animals being guided into pens after reaching the town's bull ring, was the first of eight so-called encierros which form the highlight of the festival. Last year, five runners were left injured on the seventh day of the festival. A 37-year-old man from Beriain near Pamplona suffered the only gore injury, said to have been to his palate. The other five casualties included a 54-year-old man from New York. All six runners who needed hospital treatment were males. And in 2023, six people were also left injured in the first race, none of them seriously, medics said at the time. Sixteen people have been killed during the bull runs at the annual festival, which finishes on July 14 and was made famous by 1926 Ernest Hemingway novel 'The Sun Also Rises', since records began in 1910. Six bulls are released at 8am every day to run from their corral to the bullring through the narrow streets of the old town while runners ahead of them try to stay close to the bulls without falling over or being gored The most recent death was in 2009 when 27-year-old Daniel Jimeno, from Madrid, was gored in the neck by a bull called Capuchino. Several foreigners, from Australians to Americans through to Brits and Irish, are normally among the injured. Between 200 and 300 people are usually left injured each year at the festival during the bull runs. The first of the eight encierros last year took place four hours after a San Fermin reveller collapsed and died. Police rushed to the scene and tried to save the 40-year-old man but were unable to resuscitate him. Animal rights activists campaign against the festival every year, saying it is cruel to animals who are goaded and then killed in front of baying crowds.