San Fermín Bull Racing- Pictures

The 'encierro' or The Running Of The Bulls is the single most characteristic event of the Fiesta of San Fermin. It is the event which has given the Fiesta world-wide fame and which is broadcast around the world during the fiesta in July. It is held at eight o'clock each morning from the 7th to the 14th of July inclusive. It consists largely of young men (although women may also run) who run in front of the bulls to lead them from their pen up and into the bull-ring. It usually lasts from two to three minutes - although if there are complications due to loose bulls it can last much longer.

The length of the run is some 830 metres (about half a mile) and you don't have to sign up anywhere to take part; you just enter into the run and choose the street where you will run and try to do as best as you can. The run began as part of the process of moving bulls from the edge of town to the bullring. During the mid 1800s, runners began to join the herd on their journey.
This is not the place to go into details but just to give a general outline, things happen more or less like this.
With the first rays of light of the early morning the woodenfencing which lines the route is erected. Then the night-long revellers aregradually cleared from the streets by the local police. The street-cleaners then move in to mop up the accumulated rubbish and dirt caused by the night-long revelry.

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

SPAIN’S HIGHEST PAID MATADOR LIVE’S ANOTHER DAY

He is the undisputed David Beckham of Spanish bullfighting, a daring heart-throb with an adoring female following.

But like many A-list performers at the top of their game, Jose Tomas always faces the risk of a career-ending injury - as these astonishing pictures show.

Tomas, who earns a staggering £400,000 a fight, is Spain's highest-paid matador. But he certainly gave the crowd in Cordoba, in the south of the country, their money's worth this week when a raging, half-ton bull got the better of him in dramatic style.

Caught red-handed: Champion bullfighter Jose Thomas is outwitted by the half-ton bull

Sent flying: The bull smashes into the fighter, tossing him high into the air

Bullseye: Tomas is skewered by the beast for a second time. He can do nothing but lie helplessly on top of the bull

Savaged: Tomas tries to protect himself as he is gored by the raging bull

Eyeing revenge: He is back in the fight

Despite this being his second serious 'cornada', or goring, in under a month,, the battered Tomas somehow managed to get back on his feet and kill the bull.

In recognition of his extraordinary chutzpah, Tomas was rewarded with both ears and the tail of the bull and was later carried out of the ring on a collegue's shoulders - the customary reward for feats of great bravery