all posts Running with the Bulls in Pamplona- Spain

Pamplona, Spain is hosting its annual Festival of San Fermin, most famous for its "Running of the Bulls", an 800-meter chaotic dash from corral to bullring through the narrow streets of Pamplona. Once the bulls arrive at the Plaza de Toros, they are again corralled until the afternoon's bullfights (corridas). The festival, started in the sixteenth century, opened this year on July 6th, and more than a dozen participants have been seriously injured so far, with one death (due to a fall from a wall). It will continue until July 14th.

A "recortador" leaps over a wild bull during an exhibition of riding and acrobatic skills at the bullring on the third day of the annual San Fermin festival in Pamplona, Spain July 8, 2008. (

Participants run with Fuente Ymbro fighting bulls during the third encierro of the San Fermin festivities, on July 9, 2008, in Pamplona, Spain.

A fighting bull takes the curve during the first San Fermin running of the bulls on July 7, 2008 in Pamplona, Spain. Fighting bulls are run through the old part of Pamplona for eight days in this fiesta made famous by the 1926 Ernest Hemmingway novel 'The Sun Also Rises'.

Participants run ahead of Cebada Gago fighting bulls on the second day of the San Fermin festival, on July 8, 2008, in Pamplona, northern Spain. On each day of the festival six bulls are released at 8:00 a.m. to run from their corral through the narrow, cobbled streets of the old town over an 850-meter course. Ahead of them are the runners, who try to stay close to the bulls without falling over or being gored.

A fallen runner gets trampled by a Ventorrillo fighting bull on the fourth day of the running of the bulls at the San Fermin festival in Pamplona July 10, 2008.

A runner is seen after being injured during the first day of the running of the bulls during the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, northern Spain, on Monday, July 7, 2008.

Revelers run beside as Cebada Gago's fighting bull passes during the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, northern Spain, Tuesday, July 8, 2008. The 'Los San Fermines' festival, held since 1591, attracts tens of thousands of foreign visitors each year for nine days of revelry, morning bull-runs and afternoon bullfights.

A bull jumps over runners at the end of the fourth running of the bulls of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona

A quad-bike rider is chased by a bull during an exhibition of riding and acrobatic skills at the bullring on the third day of the annual San Fermin festival in Pamplona

French bullfighter Juan Bautista performs a pass with a bull during the fourth bullfight of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona

A bull chases "recortadores" during an exhibition of riding and acrobatic skills at the bullring on the third day of the annual San Fermin festival in Pamplona

Spanish matador Francisco Marco kills his Conde de la Corte fighting bull with his sword during the first corrida of the San Fermin festivities

French matador Sebastian Castella is gored by a Fuente Ymbro's ranch bull during a bullfight in Pamplona, northern Spain

Spanish matador Diego Urdiales makes the "paseillo" or ritual entrance to the arena before a bullfight in Pamplona, northern Spain, at the San Fermin festivities