Seventh Encierro of the Sanfermines without bull horn injuries

USPA NEWS - Penultimate Encierro of the Sanfermines 2022, fast and without injuries from bull horns. But six runners were taken to the hospital with major injuries from the steamroller that the herd became, literally rolling over everyone in its path.

This Wednesday they played bulls from the Victoriano del Río ranch, in Madrid, famous for raising large, corpulent and yet agile bulls. Bulls that run with their heads down, a good attitude for bullfighting but not so much for a Encierro through the streets of Pamplona.

The Encierro had begun at 8 o'clock in the morning on Wednesday, July 13, with reluctance.  Until one of the bulls took the initiative, accelerated his march and imposed a new rhythm on the herd. So much so that the race barely lasted 2.14 minutes, making it the fastest this year at Pamplona's Sanfermines.

It was shortly after it began when the avant-garde bull ran over a runner on Mercaderes street in the capital of Navarra, throwing him into the air. As he fell, the boy hit his head on the ground. Cranio-encephalic trauma and transfer to Hospital de Navarra. The first of the six injuries registered in this seventh Encierro.

At the end of Mercaderes street, the herd turns right onto Estafeta street. That curve is one of the favorites by photographers because there are clashes of the bulls against the fence, falls and dangerous situations captured in extraordinary photos that remain in the history of the Sanfermines. But this Wednesday there were no slips or compromised situations in the curve. The best of the Encierro awaited on Estafeta street.

Because it was on this street where the best races were recorded, the most compromising situations when the runners discovered the head and horns of a bull behind their backs. He then had to throw himself to the ground to escape danger, risking being stepped on by the bulls. This produced some contusions that required transfer to the hospital.

The last wounded was registered in the bullring, when a runner who had fallen to the ground got up without realizing that the herd was approaching. He was run over, flipped over and hit in the head. Other head injury, with transfer to hospital. But the Encierro ended without any injuries caused by a bull's horn.