Most people who come to Pamplona to run with the bulls spend their preparation time on the parts that feel obvious: how fast the animals move, where to position themselves, what to wear. Almost no one asks what happens if it goes wrong, and that is exactly why so few people are ready when it does.
Encierro founder Dennis Clancey has been running in San Fermin since 2007 and has personally instructed thousands of first-time runners. Over nearly two decades on the run route, he has built a specific system around what happens before, during, and after an injury, one that has nothing to do with luck and everything to do with decisions his clients make before the rockets ever fire.
This article covers that system directly, in Dennis’s own words: what to actually do with your phone and valuables during the run, how to set a meeting point with someone who isn’t running, what travel insurance and Spanish medical care actually look like if you need them, the real medical response infrastructure staged along the route every morning, and why a fixed meeting point is not a nice-to-have. It’s the thing that once told him, within minutes, that a friend of his needed a hospital.
Your Phone Isn’t the Problem. The Timing Is.
Everyone wants proof they were there, a photo, a video, something. But this is one of the areas where Dennis is specific about timing rather than principle. Carrying a phone isn’t the issue. Having it out at the wrong moment is.
“You can carry your phone, that’s not a problem, but there’s one thing that matters: don’t have it out right before the bulls are released. If the police feel like someone has their phone out at a time that’s inappropriate given how soon the bulls will arrive, they’ll grab that person and force them off the run route.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro
The enforcement itself isn’t precise, and Dennis doesn’t pretend it is.
“It often looks random, who gets singled out, and I’ve always assumed it actually is somewhat random, that pulling one visible person with a phone out is just an effective way to get everyone else to put theirs away.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro
The practical rule he gives clients is simple: phones in the pocket for the five minutes before the bulls arrive, and honestly, for the full fifteen or twenty minutes before release. You will not see an established runner checking a phone in that window. If you do bring it onto the route, it has to be secured properly, jeans make that easy with a front pocket, but loose white running pants are a different story. Move at full speed in those and a phone can be gone in an instant.
“The safest option is to leave your phone with whoever’s watching from the balcony above you, your girlfriend, wife, husband, whoever it is. What matters more is having an agreed meeting place with your people afterward, and making sure someone will actually check on you. It’s also why we advise carrying some form of ID, but secured, not loose in a pocket where it could come out if you’re jostled or lifted off your feet by a bull.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro
Notice where the emphasis actually lands. It isn’t on the phone at all. It’s on the agreed meeting place and the person who will check on you, a system that matters far more than whatever is or isn’t in your pocket.
If Someone Isn’t Running With You, Here’s Where They Should Be
A lot of runners come to Pamplona with a partner, friend, or family member who has no intention of running. That person still has a job to do, and it starts with knowing exactly where to be after the herd passes.
“You want a loved one to be able to tell quickly whether something’s happened to you, because that person needs to be able to get to the hospital fast and speak for your care if needed.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro
Dennis gives first-time foreign runners two real options for where that person should wait.
“For a first-time foreign runner, there are really two solid options for where to meet afterward. One is Bar Txoko on Plaza del Castillo. The other is simply the door beneath the balcony where your loved one is watching from, if that’s how you’ve set it up.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro
If your companion is running too rather than watching from above, the calculation changes slightly, and this is where a fixed fallback point earns its keep.
“If your friend is running too, not watching, you can set a meetup spot along the route itself, though people do get separated in the chaos, which is exactly why Bar Txoko works so well as a fallback: it’s full of other English-speaking runners, and if someone you know went down and got evacuated by ambulance, the people there can usually tell you fast where to go.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro
The bar isn’t just a convenient landmark. It functions as an informal information hub, full of people who just came off the same route and are far more likely to know what happened than anyone checking a phone that no longer has signal or a friend who’s frantically searching side streets.
The Honest Answer on Insurance and Spanish Medical Care
Dennis doesn’t hedge on this one.
“I never advise anyone to skip travel insurance. The plans that actually matter come with some medical coverage built in for exactly this kind of situation, and it’s not only about the run itself, random things happen during Fiesta generally, it’s a crowded place, the streets get slippery, it calls for some caution regardless.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro
That distinction matters. The coverage isn’t only insurance against the encierro itself. San Fermin is nine days of packed streets, uneven cobblestones, and long nights, and injuries happen well outside the run route too. A policy that only considers the six-hundred-meter dash from the corrals to the bullring is missing most of what actually puts people in a Spanish clinic during Fiesta week.
On the medical care itself, Dennis is equally direct about what to expect if you do need it.
“On the medical side, Pamplona’s hospital will never deny you care upfront if you need it, and the staff there are particularly experienced with bull-induced injuries specifically, so you’re genuinely in good hands if something happens.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro
And then the line he comes back to every year, the one that cuts through all of it.
“But I always remind clients: the one way to guarantee you won’t get injured by a bull is to not run.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro
Insurance and good medical care reduce consequences. They don’t reduce risk. Those are two different jobs, and Dennis is careful never to let clients confuse them.
Red Cross Volunteers and Ambulances Are Already There
One of the more common misconceptions among first-time runners is that medical response on the encierro is improvised, that if something happens, someone will figure it out. It isn’t improvised at all.
“It’s official, not something informal. Red Cross volunteers are stationed at every barrier point along the run route, and there are ambulances staged on Calle Mercaderes.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro
That infrastructure exists for injuries far more common than a goring, and Dennis pushes clients to use it even when the injury looks minor.
“Even a simple scratch is worth getting looked at, the streets are filthy, and I recommend anyone with even the lightest injury go get it reviewed by the medical personnel there, it’s a service the city already provides, free to use.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro
There’s a physiological reason this matters more than it might seem to in the moment.
“Adrenaline during the run is intense, and it’s common not to realize how hurt you actually are until much later in the day.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro
A runner who feels fine at 9 a.m. can be dealing with a real injury by early afternoon, once the adrenaline has worn off and the body reports what actually happened. Getting checked by the Red Cross volunteers on the route, even for something that looks trivial, is a five-minute decision that costs nothing and catches problems before they become emergencies later in the day.
Why the Meeting Point System Worked When It Mattered
Dennis doesn’t talk about the meeting point system as theory. He talks about it because of what happened in 2024.
“I was running with a friend, same section as me, but he ended up a little behind where I was, and I didn’t see his injury happen. I never saw him again on the route after that. We had a set post-run meetup spot, Bar Txoko, and he never showed up there. By the time I made it back to where it happened, he was already gone, and I had no idea he was already in surgery at the hospital. His injury wasn’t even shown on TV, nobody saw it happen live, because the cameras typically follow the lead bull through a section, and injuries that happen further back in the pack often go uncaptured. What told me something was wrong was that he never showed up at our meeting point. That’s what got us to the hospital to check on him, not luck, the system we’d already agreed on before the run.”
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro
Read that sequence closely and it says something important about how injuries actually get discovered on the encierro. Dennis was running the same section as his friend. He still didn’t see the injury happen. There was no dramatic moment, no shout, no visible confirmation, just a friend who was there and then wasn’t. Television coverage, which most people assume would catch a serious injury, followed the lead bull through the section, as it typically does, and missed it entirely. No broadcast, no footage, no way to learn what had happened by watching a screen.
The only signal Dennis had was an absence: his friend didn’t show up at Bar Txoko. That single fact, someone not being where they said they would be, was the entire trigger that sent them to the hospital. Not a phone call. Not a news report. Not a text message from someone else who saw it happen. A missing person at an agreed location.
That is the actual argument for a fixed meeting point, and it’s a different argument than “it’s convenient to know where to find your friends afterward.” It is a detection system. On a run where injuries can happen out of view, unrecorded, and in a crowd too chaotic to search through in real time, the meeting point is often the only mechanism that tells anyone something has gone wrong.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should you do with your phone during the running of the bulls?
Keep it in your pocket for the fifteen to twenty minutes before the bulls are released, since police may remove anyone who has a phone out that close to the start. If you carry it on the run, it needs to be secured, easy in jeans, risky in loose white pants at full speed. The safer option for many runners is leaving the phone with whoever is watching from a balcony and relying on an agreed meeting point instead.
Where do you meet up after the running of the bulls in Pamplona?
Two options work well for a first-time foreign runner: Bar Txoko on Plaza del Castillo, or the door beneath the balcony if a loved one is watching from above. What matters most isn’t which one you pick, it’s that everyone agrees on it before the run and treats it as non-negotiable.
Is there medical help along the bull run route in Pamplona?
Yes, and it’s official rather than improvised. Red Cross volunteers are stationed at every barrier point along the route, and ambulances are staged on Calle Mercaderes. Even minor injuries are worth having reviewed on the spot, it’s a free service the city already provides, and adrenaline often hides how serious an injury actually is until hours later.
Do you need travel insurance to run with the bulls?
Encierro never advises skipping it. Solid travel insurance plans include medical coverage that applies to run-related injuries and to the broader risks of a crowded, slippery, nine-day festival. Pamplona’s hospital will treat you regardless of insurance status, but the honest bottom line remains the same one Dennis gives every client: the only guaranteed way to avoid a bull-related injury is not to run.
Every article on the Encierro blog is authored or reviewed by active bull runners with direct experience in Pamplona.