Pamplona's Bulls Grab Runners By The Horns

Six massive bulls charged down the packed streets of Pamplona on Saturday during the first run of the San Fermin Festival, which combines the half-ton animals with damp cobblestones and revelers steeped in adrenaline and alcohol.

Injuries are usually common as the crowds strive to keep ahead of the bulls in the narrow streets. But only seven people were treated for minor injuries this year, including an Australian man who was slightly gored and a Spaniard who escaped with a minor shoulder injury after being tossed in the air and falling into the path of another bull, whose horns missed.

The number of revelers swelled this year because the traditional start day fell on a weekend. Last year, more than 200,000 tourists visited Pamplona, according to the city government. Numbers this year are likely to exceed that, said government spokeswoman Edurne Elio.

San Fermin is as much a feast of thanksgiving for the bounty of wine as it is a celebration of bullfighting. Pamplona, capital of the winemaking region of Navarra, is situated immediately east of another world-renowned wine area — Rioja.

It is customary for many revelers, particularly foreigners, to spend much of the night before a bull run drinking red wine or sangria.

"I stayed up all night drinking. Thank God for espresso," said Matthew Genovese, 25, from Washington, Conn., who is in Pamplona for the first time.

Last year, 31-year-old Ray Ducharme of Charlotte, N.C. was thrown by a cow in an mock bullfight following the first run. He underwent a 90-minute operation to reattach two vertebrae.

"They don't know what they're doing; bulls can kill," said Ruben Munoz, 24, from Madrid, who has run with the bulls for five years. "I do it for the adrenaline and because I feel liberated."

Saturday was particularly poignant for Victor Elbusto, 57, who made his last run after 40 years.

"I've only been gored once, 20 years ago, and now I realize I need to give up before my luck runs out," said Elbusto, whose record won him the title of "divino," a person who has run many years with few injuries.

The bulls, which are kept in an enclosure just outside the town center, are run daily during the San Fermin Festival to Pamplona's central bullring. Crowds started to line the 974-yard course as early as 2 a.m.

Each of the nine days of San Fermin features bulls from a different breeder. The lightest this year weighed 1,212 pounds and the heaviest 1,356 pounds.

Since records began in 1924, 13 people have been killed. The last fatality, a 22-year-old American, was gored to death in 1995.

The San Fermin Festival dates back to the late 16th century but gained worldwide fame in Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises."

On Sunday the crowd will run with Spain's most dangerous breed of bulls, the Miuras.