Pamplona's Running of the Bulls 2012
One elderly thrill-seeker was gored in a leg and five others slightly injured as thousands of adrenaline-fueled runners raced ahead of six fighting bulls in the streets of the northern Spanish city of Pamplona, in the first day of the annual Running of the Bulls of the San Fermin festival, officials said Saturday.
Runners, in traditional white clothing and red kerchiefs around their necks, tripped over each other or fell in the mad daredevil annual rush along early morning dew-moistened slippery streets to the city's bull ring.
"Running with the bulls was the best experience I've had, so much adrenaline," said Mark Martinez, 27, a student from Los Angeles, California, who said he was in Spain on a 10-day vacation. "I couldn't touch the horns, I might try that tomorrow," he said.
Serious runners, referred to by the cognoscenti of the fiesta as "los divinos" the divine ones because of their ability to survive close brushes with death, would never attempt to touch the animals.
The ornery beasts used in this centuries-old fiesta can weigh some 1,100-pounds and have killed 15 people since record keeping began in 1924.
The 8 a.m. runs take place daily until July 14, with each charge broadcast on state television.
And then, on the afternoon of each day, the same bulls face matadors in the ring...