San Fermín 1979: The Running of the Bulls
July 6 to 14, 1979. Eight encierros at 8 a.m., no encierro deaths, and Miura on the final run.
Curated by Dennis Clancey
· Founder of Encierro, veteran bull runner
0
Encierro Deaths
1979
Year
Miura
July 14 Ganadería
8 a.m.
Run Time
Looking Back at 1979
Dennis Clancey · Founder, Encierro
Looking back at 1979, the encierro ran all eight mornings, from Pablo Romero on July 7 to Miura on July 14, and no one died in the encierros.
The Miura run on the final morning passed with absolute normality, El País reported. The bulls still ran Santo Domingo to the ring, and at midnight on July 14 the Pobre de Mí was still sung.
Dennis Clancey, Founder, Encierro
1979 in contextThe Encierro in 1979
The 1979 fiesta opened on July 6 and ran through July 14, with the encierros at 8 a.m. The chupinazo opened the fiesta on July 6. No one died in the encierros.
On July 7, Pablo Romero bulls opened the week in a fast, exciting run with no incidents, El País reported. Miura bulls ran on July 14.
Eight mornings, no encierro deaths. Miura ran on the last morning.Morning by morning
Every 1979 Encierro, Day by Day
No encierro deaths. El País reports of the week name the ganadería for July 7 (Pablo Romero), July 8 (Guardiola), July 10 (Martínez Elizondo, Chopera) and July 14 (Miura). The route runs 848.6 metres from Santo Domingo to the bullring. See the route map.
Sat July 7 · First run
Run 1, Pablo Romero
July 7
A fast, exciting run with no incidents, El País reported.
Sun July 8 · Second run
Run 2, Guardiola
July 8
The bull Ollero gored José María Fernández in the neck in the bullring, El País reported.
Mon July 9 · Third run
Run 3, Marqués de Domecq
July 9
Programmed bulls, per the Casa de Misericordia programme as printed in El País on July 7.
Tue July 10 · Fourth run
Run 4, Martínez Elizondo
July 10
Bulls of Martínez Elizondo (Chopera); the run lasted a little over three minutes, El País reported.
Wed July 11 · Fifth run
Run 5, Conde de la Corte
July 11
Programmed bulls, per the Casa de Misericordia programme as printed in El País on July 7.
Thu July 12 · Sixth run
Run 6, Francisco Martínez Benavides
July 12
Programmed bulls, per the Casa de Misericordia programme as printed in El País on July 7.
Fri July 13 · Seventh run
Run 7, María Isabel Ibarra
July 13
Sat July 14 · Eighth run
Run 8, Miura
July 14
Miura
Miura bulls ran on July 14. The encierro passed with absolute normality, in a little over two minutes and 45 seconds, El País reported.
The Stories the Numbers Leave Out
The second morning
Ollero in the Bullring
On July 8, the second morning, the Guardiola bull Ollero gored José María Fernández in the neck in the bullring, El País reported.
On the route
Casa Seminario Comes Down
In 1979 Casa Seminario, by the narrow passage where calle Santo Domingo opened into the Plaza Consistorial, was demolished along with the tourist mural painted on it in 1963. The area improved markedly, according to Javier Torrens Alzu in El Encierro magazine.
The 1979 Sanfermines Official Cartel
Cartel: Juan Gómez.
The 1979 San Fermín poster was the work of Juan Gómez.
The full archive of San Fermín official posters is maintained by the Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, cartel archive.
The official San Fermín 1979 poster.
Beyond the runThe City in 1979
The chupinazo opened the fiesta at noon on Friday, July 6, in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento.
The fiesta closed at midnight on July 14 with the Pobre de Mí. That morning, Miura had run the last encierro. The one death of the 1979 fiestas came that day: an American tourist fell from the city walls, El País reported.
The recordHow 1979 Came Together
6 July 1979
The chupinazo opens the 1979 fiesta at noon at the town hall. Encierros to follow each morning at 8 a.m.
7 to 13 July 1979
Encierros at 8 a.m. No encierro deaths.
14 July 1979
Miura bulls run in the final encierro. No encierro deaths; an American tourist dies after a fall from the city walls. At midnight, the Pobre de Mí closes the 1979 fiesta and the decade.
San Fermín 1979, Answered
Was anyone killed in the 1979 encierros?
No. There were no deaths in the 1979 encierros. The one death of the 1979 fiestas was an American tourist who fell from the city walls on July 14, El País reported.
What ganadería ran in the 1979 encierros?
El País reports name Miura on July 14, Pablo Romero on July 7, Guardiola on July 8 and Martínez Elizondo (Chopera) on July 10. The other mornings are not named in the sources found.
Sources
Every fact on this page is checked against these sources. Where sources disagreed, the one closest to the day won.
- El País, "El encierro de los pablorromeros transcurrió sin percances", 1979-07-08. elpais.com
- El País, "El encierro de los miuras pasó con normalidad", 1979-07-15. elpais.com
- El Encierro (magazine) via Dialnet, "Arquitecturas alrededor del encierro (Javier Torrens Alzu)", 2020-06. dialnet.unirioja.es
- Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, "Carteles de San Fermin (official poster archive)". pamplona.es
What came next
For what followed, see San Fermín 1980, the year two men died in a single encierro, or explore the full 1980s archive.