The advice most people bring to Pamplona about what to do if you fall in the running of the bulls is two words long: stay down. It is a good rule and it is incomplete. Applied at the wrong moment it is wrong, and applied without knowing where the bulls are it gives a first-time runner nothing to decide with. The related belief, that you can simply step out of the run if you get nervous halfway, is more dangerous still.
The distinction matters because falls, pileups and people trying to leave the route mid-run are where a great deal of harm starts, and none of it comes from a lack of courage. It comes from runners not knowing where the bulls are, not knowing what the crowd behind them is about to do, and not knowing when the decision to leave has already expired.
Encierro founder Dennis Clancey has run the encierro every year since 2007, and he has ended up underneath the herd on several occasions. Everything in quotation marks below is his own words. This article covers how to read the bulls’ position, what to do on the ground, what happened to a man standing in a doorway on Estafeta in 2007, why the decision to leave has to be made before the release, and what a death on the route in 2009 says about experience and chance.
The First Question After a Fall Is Not “How Do I Get Up?”
The instruction depends on distance, and distance is the hardest thing for a first-time runner to judge. Dennis starts with the tool he tells clients to watch for.
“One of the hardest things when you’re running for the first time is understanding exactly where the bulls are. There are a couple of overhead cable cameras, cables that run along a track above the route and follow the lead animal. Those are the best indicators of exactly where the bulls are.”
The run is televised by RTVE, and those cameras are part of that coverage. He is direct about how much weight they carry.
“The best way, really the only way, for a first-time runner to have confidence that a bull is close is by watching for those overhead cable cameras as they approach their position.”
That is why he points first-timers toward Calle Estafeta or Ayuntamiento (the full route is covered separately), where the cameras move at the pace of the bulls, directly over the lead animal. It gives a runner the speed at which the bulls are closing and their current position, so the run can be timed.
“In an ideal case you turn to run about four to five seconds before the bulls get to your location.”
Once you know where the bulls are, a fall becomes a decision, not just an accident.
“If you fall long before the bulls get to your position, when you know they’re still far off, you could in some circumstances get up. The crowd might not be running as fast, so it might be a bit easier. But if the bulls are inbound and a few seconds away, you need to stay down and protect your head.”
On the Ground: One Arm Under, One Arm Over, and the Problem of the Crowd
Dennis walks the route with first-time clients and shows them a specific position, one he has used himself when the herd has gone over him.
“I put one arm between my head and the stone and the other arm over the top of my head. I’m in a fetal, side position with one arm underneath my head and one arm over the top of it. I try to stay as small and as low as possible. I want a barrier between my head and the stone, and a barrier between my head and the sky above it.”
The common assumption is that being trampled by the bulls is the worst hazard. His experience of being under the herd points elsewhere.
“The bulls are very athletic and they do not want to step on anything that will trip them. They will jump over you. You have to trust that they will jump over you, because the alternative is to get up in front of them. You will have no momentum. They will have the momentum of a 1,200-pound bull running at a sub-four-minute-mile pace.”
A person standing in the bull’s path creates a problem for the animal, and the animal solves it by lowering its head. The example he uses is Matthew Tassio, a 22-year-old American runner killed in 1995. The published record of deaths on the run has him gored in the Town Hall Square, where Dennis places his fall.
“There is no better example than Matthew Tassio in 1995, a young American runner who fell in the middle of the route at Ayuntamiento, got back up as the bulls were coming through and got a horn in his body.”
The bulls are only half of the reason to stay low. The other half is the runners sprinting behind you.
“When the bulls get close, people are running at full sprint, and those people will trip on you. If you stay low to the ground, runners can hurtle over you, just like the bulls can, and that is what you want. I have had plenty of friends injured because people did not stay down. Someone goes to get back up, another runner I know knocks into that person, the person who got up goes back down, and now the runner running through is taken out as well, and perhaps a few after him.”
The result has a name in Spanish.
“After you get a few people falling on each other you have what we call a montón, a heap of people. The problem is that once you have a pile of people it is much harder for the bulls to jump over a whole mound of people than over one or two.”
July 12, 2007, Calle Estafeta: The Man in the Doorway
The clearest lesson Dennis has seen about standing still is one he watched from a balcony, the day before he ran for the first time. The date was Thursday, July 12, 2007, the sixth run of that fiesta.
“The first run I ever watched from a balcony was July 12, 2007, the day before I ran for the first time. An individual decided to enter the run route but to stand in a doorway along it without any plan of running. That day we had a suelto, a lone bull. It rounded La Curva into Estafeta and made its way up the street.”
Contemporary reports of that run describe a bull that separated from the herd within the first minute, near the Town Hall, and was still loose on the route long after the others had gone. The run lasted more than six minutes instead of the usual two or so. The story on Estafeta is what Dennis saw.
“Just about everyone had cleared out of the area, but this individual, whose sole plan was to stand in a doorway, caught the attention of the bull. The bull went up to that doorway, gored the individual in the navel, picked him up over its head and tossed him in the street. He was bloody. There was a trail of blood running down Estafeta as other runners carried him towards Calle Mercaderes.”
Press reports from that day list a 23-year-old visitor from Mexico gored in the abdomen on Estafeta, in very serious condition. The rules the city publishes for runners name the very spot he chose: they forbid remaining in the doorways of houses and establishments along the route.
Dennis sums up the lesson in four sentences, and the last one is the one that applies to every runner.
“Don’t approach the run as if you’re going to stand in one place and just hope that the bull doesn’t come to your position. You need to, at all times, be prepared to get out of the way if a bull is headed towards you. It’s as simple as that.”
He has watched this pattern across decades of runs.
“If you’re standing still along the side of the route, and you’ve committed to not moving, and a bull comes close, then, having watched decades of runs, the only thing a person in that position can do is brace for impact. The bull is incredibly powerful and fast, and its horns are sharp.”
The Decision to Leave Is Made Before the Release. After That, Keep Moving.
A second common belief is that a runner who gets nervous can pull out at any point. Dennis’s answer is that the window closes when the bulls are released.
“It is only too late to leave the run route once the bulls are released and inbound. If you find yourself second-guessing yourself, or nervous and questioning whether you should do it, you can get off the run route before the bulls are released. Once the bulls are inbound, you are going to have to commit to the run.”
He explains why the police will not let anyone off the route at that stage.
“Someone stopping along a barrier to put a leg through and attempt to climb through creates an immediate obstacle to everyone trying to make their way down the route, because that person momentarily stops moving. It is like an accident on a highway: all the cars behind it have to slow and stop and eventually you have a traffic jam. These obstructions are very dangerous because they obstruct the natural flow of the run, limit the space the bulls have to keep moving down the route, and can ultimately lead to more injuries.”
He sees it more than people realize.
“I have seen it literally every day, and it is very dangerous. I typically see it in the video replays, because I’m usually not right along the sides of the route.”
What Encierro teaches is built around activity, not the absence of it. Dennis does not spend tour time on nervousness.
“We don’t introduce the idea of nervousness. We focus on staying in motion, what that looks like and why that’s important. If someone has second thoughts, they can get off the run route before the bulls are released. If they’re committed to the run, just keep moving. We focus on activity, not the absence thereof.”
Motion, he says, is what gives a runner information and options.
“If you’re in motion, you have an ability to better understand the crowd you’re running in, how it’s limiting your motion. The realization of first time runners often is that you can’t run nearly as fast as you want to run, because you’re still at the whim of the crowd. If you’re being active, that means you have your arms out, you’re being vocal, you’re maintaining some space around you. If you have a good sense for how limited your motion is, you can better make a decision as the bulls approach. If you find yourself in a bad situation, always be moving.”
He also thinks about position across the width of the route, as a five-lane track.
“Lane three, the middle of the route, is where runners are typically running at their fastest, at a full sprint, attempting to run on the horns. That’s not somewhere first-time runners want to find themselves. But they equally don’t want to be in the outside lanes, at the very edges along the barrier and the facades, because there people are barely moving. For a first-time runner you want to be in lane two or lane four, so you can still maintain momentum and have a bit of room to move and maneuver.”
After the Bulls Pass, and What July 10, 2009 Says About Experience
Exit points are one of the questions Dennis hears most.
“I get a lot of questions about exit points: where do you exit the run route? To clarify, you are only exiting the run route once the bulls have passed you. Once the bulls have passed you, the route clears out significantly, because a lot of first-time runners try to run after the bulls, which is against the rules and against the very point of the running of the bulls.”
The city’s rules for runners prohibit running at the bulls or behind them, which matches what he tells people.
“The point is to run with the bulls, not to chase after them. I would be laughed at and ridiculed if I were seen running far behind the herd, or running with the cleanup steers, who come along the route 30 to 45 seconds after the main herd. The more people crowding the run route on either side of the bulls, the harder it is for the pastores to do their job and make sure the herd is properly herded up the streets. And if there is a separated bull, it is more confusing for the bull the more people there are in front of it, behind it and at its sides.”
The clearest reminder of how quickly a run can change is July 10, 2009. Dennis was at the fiesta.
“When I was at the Fiesta in 2009, there was a death, Daniel Jimeno Romero. He was gored in the neck along the barriers just before the Callejón.”
The record matches his account. Daniel Jimeno Romero was 27 and from Alcalá de Henares, near Madrid. On the fourth run of that fiesta a Jandilla bull named Capuchino separated from the herd, and Jimeno was fatally gored on the Telefónica stretch, near the entrance to the Callejón. Dennis describes what the days afterward were like.
“In the days after Daniel Jimeno Romero’s death, we analyzed the run a million times. On the tours I go through specific detail of exactly what happened. Daniel actually knew the bulls. He was from Alcalá de Henares, just outside of Madrid. He had run other runs in Spain. His death speaks to the fact that it can be truly random. Injuries on any given day are split between people who are experienced and those who are not.”
He adds one point about the terrain that shapes his advice to first-timers.
“That area where he was killed is an area where I always instruct first-time runners not to attempt to run, because it’s an area where the route goes from its widest to its thinnest in a short distance, and that can lead to a lot of pileups, people tripping, in dangerous situations.”
Nothing in this article removes the danger of the run. It is a description of what Dennis has watched and what he tells people who are deciding whether to take part.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should you do if you fall during the running of the bulls?
It depends on how close the bulls are. If they are still far off you may be able to get up, but if they are inbound and a few seconds away, stay down, keep one arm under your head and one over it, and stay as small and low as you can. Standing up in front of a bull that has no room to swerve is what put Matthew Tassio in danger in 1995. Runners sprinting behind you can go over you the way the bulls do, and a montón of people is far harder for the bulls to clear.
Can you leave the bull run route once the bulls are released?
No. The decision to leave has to be made before the bulls are released, and the police will not let you off the route after that. Someone stopping at a barrier to climb out becomes an obstacle for everyone behind them and reduces the room the bulls have to keep moving. Once the bulls are inbound, the plan is to keep moving until they have overtaken you.
Where should a first-time runner position themselves on the route?
Dennis thinks of the route as five lanes across (see the route map). The middle lane is where the fastest runners sprint on the horns, and the outer lanes at the barriers and facades are where people are barely moving or standing still. For a first-time runner, lane two or lane four leaves room to keep momentum and to make an evasive move if a bull comes toward you.
Can you run after the bulls in Pamplona?
No. Running behind the bulls is against the rules and against the point of the run. It also crowds the pastores, who are working to herd the bulls up the streets, and it makes a separated bull more confused. The cleanup steers come along the route after the herd, and Dennis says he would be ridiculed for running far behind it.
For the full public record of injuries and deaths at the encierro, year by year from 2013 to 2026, see how dangerous the running of the bulls has been, according to the records.
If you are deciding whether to run at all, read Is Running with the Bulls Safe for Beginners?, Dennis Clancey’s answers on who gets hurt and where first-timers should not run.
Dennis Clancey is the founder of Encierro and has run the encierro every year since 2007. Every article on the Encierro blog is authored or reviewed by active bull runners with direct experience in Pamplona.