Large crowd at Pamplona for Running of the Bulls

Thrill-seeking revelers run for their lives during Saturday’s event. This makes runners reckless and more likely to get too close to the bulls, which weigh in excess of 500 kilos (1,100 pounds).

The San Fermin festival, known around the world for its daily running of the bulls, started on July 6 with the firing of the traditional “chupinazo” rocket at Pamplona city hall. At least two people were gored in the penultimate running of the bulls in Pamplona’s San Fermin festival, the Spanish Red Cross said.

Red Cross spokesman Alfonso Contin said initial reports indicated a possible broken arm in the bull run, but the injury to a 22-year-old Spaniard from the northwestern city of Oviedo was later confirmed to be a shoulder dislocation. The run covers 850-meters from a holding pen on the edge of town to the central bullring where the large animals face matadors and nearly certain death in afternoon bullfights.

Every morning of the festival at 8 a.m., the bulls race through the medieval streets accompanied by an equal number of large steers – each wearing a clanking cowbell – tasked with keeping the pack tight and galloping at an even pace. The last time Conde de la Maza bulls ran in Pamplona was in 1981.