San Fermín 1980: Eight Mornings and the Run of July 13

· Founder of Encierro, veteran bull runner

Looking Back at 1980

Dennis Clancey · Founder, Encierro

Looking back at 1980, what I notice first is how full the street had become. Three days after the fiesta ended, El País ran the headline “El exceso de corredores, máximo peligro de los encierros de Pamplona”: too many runners, the greatest danger in the run. Anyone who has stood in the crush on Estafeta in the last seconds before the rocket knows what a crowded street does to the space you thought you had.

Looking back at July 13, 1980, the record is stark. A single bull, Antioquío, from the Guardiola Fantoni herd, killed two men in the same run. That had not happened since July 10, 1947, when two men died in the same encierro. The two men, José Antonio Sánchez Navascués from Cintruénigo and Vicente Risco from Badajoz, were 26 and 29 years old. The run did not stop. The fiesta continued. That is what the encierro has always done, and understanding that fact is the beginning of understanding San Fermín.

Dennis Clancey, Founder, Encierro

The Encierro in 1980

Eight ganaderías ran in 1980, from Conde de la Corte on July 7 to Albaserrada on July 14. The week included a Miura morning on wet ground, a run El País called slow, and the morning of July 13, when one bull killed two men. After the fiesta, El País pointed to the number of runners on the street as the encierro’s greatest danger.

A full street, eight herds and one very hard morning made 1980 a compressed version of everything San Fermín has always been.

“The bulls run. The street narrows. What happens next is entirely yours.”

Every 1980 Encierro, Day by Day

Each run with its ganadería. The route runs 848.6 meters from Santo Domingo to the ring.

Mon July 7 · First run

Conde de la Corte

Tue July 8 · Second run

César Moreno

Wed July 9 · Third run

Fermín Bohórquez

Onda Vasca records two serious injuries that morning, one of them a goring on Mercaderes.

Thu July 10 · Fourth run

Miura

Onda Vasca records wet ground and many falls that morning, and the Miura bulls got loose in the ring.

Fri July 11 · Fifth run

Dolores Aguirre

El País described the run as slow but safe.

Sat July 12 · Sixth run

Marqués de Domecq

Sun July 13 · Seventh run

Guardiola Fantoni

On the morning of July 13, the Guardiola Fantoni bull Antioquío killed two runners: José Antonio Sánchez Navascués, 26, from Cintruénigo, in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, and Vicente Risco, 29, from Badajoz, in the bullring. It was the first encierro since July 10, 1947 in which two men were killed.

Mon July 14 · Eighth run

Albaserrada

Pamplona said goodbye to the fiesta and to two men it had lost the day before.

What the Record Remembers

Tragedy

Antioquío and the Weight of a Single Morning

On July 13, 1980, the Guardiola Fantoni bull Antioquío killed José Antonio Sánchez Navascués, 26, from Cintruénigo, in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, and Vicente Risco, 29, from Badajoz, in the bullring. Not since July 10, 1947 had two men died in the same encierro: two young men from different corners of Spain, killed by one bull on one morning.

Ganadería

Miura on July 10

In 1980, Miura ran the fourth encierro, on July 10. Onda Vasca records wet ground, many falls and Miura bulls loose in the ring that morning.

The Street

Too Many Runners

On July 15, 1980, El País looked back at the week under the headline “El exceso de corredores, máximo peligro de los encierros de Pamplona”: the excess of runners, the greatest danger in Pamplona’s encierros. Two days earlier, the run of July 13 had ended with two men killed by one bull.

San Fermín 1980 Official Poster

Cartel 1980 by Valentín Redin.

Source: Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, cartel archive

The City in 1980

The chupinazo opened the fiesta at noon on Sunday, July 6, 1980, from the balcony of the Pamplona town hall, and for nine days the old city belonged to the peñas, the bands and the crowds in red and white. The encierro ran every morning from July 7. The Pobre de Mí at midnight on July 14 brought the 1980 fiesta to its close, the day after its darkest morning.

How 1980 Came Together

Key facts in the 1980 fiesta, kept on the record.

San Fermín 1980, Answered

Sources

Every fact on this page is checked against these sources. Where sources disagreed, the one closest to the day won.

• El País, "¿Son machistas los sanfermines?", 1980-07-12. elpais.com
• El País, "La expectación para las corridas de San Fermín", 1980-07-12. elpais.com
• El País, "El exceso de corredores, máximo peligro de los encierros de Pamplona", 1980-07-15. elpais.com
• El Independiente, "1980, cuando el horror se hizo cotidiano", 2020-10-30. elindependiente.com
• Onda Vasca (Noticias de Navarra group), "Encierros con historia", 2022-07-15. ondavasca.com
• Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, "Pamplona recordara los 16 fallecidos en la historia del encierro con adoquines". pamplona.es
• Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, "Carteles de San Fermin". pamplona.es
• Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, "The Chupinazo and the Pobre de Mi". pamplona.es
• Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, "Encierro (turismo, French version)". pamplona.es

Planning your own run?

Read the years on either side. San Fermín 1979 and San Fermín 1981 are documented morning by morning, with every ganadería we can confirm.

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