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. The entire length of the course is gated, so to run you need only
show up at one of several entranceways before they are closed at 7:30 a.m.
The run began as part of moving bulls from the
edge of town to the bullring. During the mid 1800s, runners began to join
behind the herd on their journey. Eventually, locals started running in front
of the bulls. Hemingway wrote about this death-defying tradition in the 1930s
and thereafter, the festival gained worldwide fame. In the early morning light,
brass bands representing each district of pamplona fan out to wake the
citizenry for another run. City workers work diligently to set up wooden
fencing along the ? mile course. Police quitley but firmly clear sleepy
revelers (often slumbering in the streets) from the course. The street-cleaners
then move in to mop up the accumulated rubbish and dirt caused by the
night-long partying. Anyone not running must stay behind the double-fences that
line the route.Only first-aid teams are allowed between the double fencing. One
practical reason for this is, that the runners have the space to jump over the
fance should they need to. So now that the fencing has been shut in, the only
way to enter is at the gateway at the Town Hall or at the gateway of the Plaza
del Mercado.
Many runners who gather at the bottom of Santo
Domingo, the start of the run, crowd together and sing a homily to the image of
San Fermin which is placed in a sepulcher on the wall decorated with the
scarves of the pass (city districts). The song mean like this: "We ask San
Fermi-n, as our Patron, to guide us through the Bull Run and give us His
blessing).
A rocket called the Chupinaxo goes off at the
moment the pen is opened and a second rocket goes off to let everyone know that
all the bulls are now running. This is the moment of truth in the encierro; the
bulls run like the wind. It is impossible to race them or even keep up with
them for very long. The proper way to run is to start off slowly when the bulls
are still a good distance behind, and as they draw nearer start running as fast
as you can, before they get too close, stay in front of them for a short
distance and then get out of the way as cleanlyas possible. Be careful not to
cross the paths of other runners. Look for gap in the fence to slip through or
jump over, or a space againts the wall of the street. Each bull weighs about
600 kilos (roughly 1 ton - and has two sharp horns). So you have to be careful
not to get pushed over or knocked down by other runners. The crowding is
particularly dense the opening and closing weekends where the number of
visitors to the Fiesta more than doubles.
Each section of the run has its own particular
characteristics and seasoned runners often choose to run the same section. In
Santo Domingo, the first part of the run, the pace is very fast. Particulary
risly is the corner of Mercaderes where most of the television footage is shot.
This is a 90-degree corner where bulls and boodies often slam into the fence.
There is a long straight run up Estafeta Street which ends at the bull-ring.
Once in the bull ring, a third rocket goes off signaling the
"all-clear" and a final rocket is set off when all the bulls have
been safely locked into their pens.
Between that first and last rocket only a few
minutes have elapsed but the memories (and war stories) last a lifetime. The
day after the fiesta ends, some die-hard locals who refuse to face the fact
that the Fiesta is over will run in front of the early-morning bus which comes
up Santo Domingo street.
(Ncierro.com
11 December 2007)
