San Fermín 1984: The Running of the Bulls
July 6 to 14, 1984. The 1984 San Fermín festival had zero deaths, though the American runner Stephen Townsend was critically injured on Calle Estafeta on July 10.
Curated by Dennis Clancey
· Founder of Encierro, veteran bull runner
8
Encierros
0
Deaths
Looking Back at 1984
Dennis Clancey · Founder, Encierro
Looking back at 1984, what strikes me most is not any single moment but the accumulation of eight mornings that simply did not produce the catastrophe the encierro is capable of delivering at any time. The numbers are almost implausible: eight runs, one of the most dangerous annual events in the world, and, by El País’s count, two people seriously gored by horn. No deaths. For a student of this fiesta, a year like 1984 is as instructive as any disaster, because it reminds you how many variables have to align, or fail to align, for the worst outcomes to occur.
Looking back at 1984, I also think about what the runners did not know they were walking into. Nobody boards a plane to Pamplona expecting a safe encierro. The dread is part of the contract. And yet the bulls that year, across eight different ganaderías with eight different temperaments and eight different track records, produced a collective outcome that defied every actuarial expectation. That is the encierro's central paradox: you cannot predict it, you cannot engineer safety into it, and occasionally it simply decides to spare everyone.
Dennis Clancey, Founder, Encierro
1984 in contextThe Encierro in 1984
Eight ganaderías ran in 1984, from Alonso Moreno, at the fiesta for the first time, on July 7 to Miura on July 14. On July 10 the Osborne run lasted 5 minutes 20 seconds, the longest of the fiesta according to El País, and the American runner Stephen Townsend was critically injured on Calle Estafeta. No one died.
"The encierro does not reward preparation. It rewards the morning when the bulls run straight." A common observation among veteran runners.Morning by morning
Every 1984 Encierro, Day by Day
Each run with its ganadería. The route runs 848.6 meters from Santo Domingo to the ring.
Sat July 7 · First run
Alonso Moreno
El País reported a fast, clean first run by Alonso Moreno bulls, at the fiesta for the first time.
Mon July 9 · Third run
Guardiola Fantoni
El País gave the Guardiola Fantoni run a time of 3 minutes 12 seconds. Four years earlier, on July 13, 1980, a Guardiola Fantoni bull had killed two runners.
Tue July 10 · Fourth run
Osborne
El País reported the longest run of the fiesta, 5 minutes 20 seconds, with two runners gored. One of them, the American Stephen Townsend, was critically injured on Calle Estafeta, at the door of the bar Casa Flores.
Thu July 12 · Sixth run
Marqués de Domecq
El País gave the run 3 minutes 3 seconds and noted fewer runners on the street.
Fri July 13 · Seventh run
Martínez Uranga
El País called the Martínez Uranga Hermanos run the fastest encierro of the fiesta.
What the Record Remembers
Safety
Two Serious Gorings, No Deaths
Eight encierros. Zero deaths. El País counted two people seriously gored by horn across the fiesta. That does not mean the encierro was safe: on July 10 the American runner Stephen Townsend was critically injured on Calle Estafeta.
Ganadería
Guardiola Fantoni, Four Years After 1980
On July 13, 1980, a Guardiola Fantoni bull killed two runners. On July 9, 1984, the ranch ran the third encierro; El País gave the run 3 minutes 12 seconds, and no one died.
Ganadería
Miura Closes 1984
Miura closed the 1984 San Fermín encierro on July 14, in 2 minutes 45 seconds according to El País. The 1984 Miura closing run produced no deaths.
Official Poster, 1984Official Sanfermines Poster, 1984
Cartel 1984 by Francisco Bastida Marchiñena.
Source: Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, cartel archive
Beyond the runThe City in 1984
The first encierro, on July 7, was delayed seven minutes by a jam of runners on Calle Estafeta, according to Onda Vasca’s retrospective “Encierros con historia”. By the sixth run, on July 12, El País was noting fewer runners on the street.
The chupinazo opened the fiesta at noon on July 6, and the Pobre de Mí at midnight on July 14 closed the fiesta.
The recordHow 1984 Came Together
Key facts in the 1984 fiesta, kept on the record.
6 July 1984
Chupinazo: the noon rocket launch from the Pamplona town hall opens the fiesta, crowds pack the Plaza Consistorial.
9 July 1984
Guardiola Fantoni runs the course, four years after the same ranch's bulls killed two runners in 1980. The third encierro of the 1984 fiesta concludes without fatality.
11 July 1984
Fermín Bohórquez runs the fifth encierro in 2 minutes 37 seconds (El País).
14 July 1984
Miura closes the encierro. El País counts two people seriously gored by horn across the fiesta. The Pobre de Mí closes the festival at midnight.
San Fermín 1984, Answered
How dangerous were the 1984 encierros?
No one died in the 1984 encierros. On July 10, the American runner Stephen Townsend was critically injured on Calle Estafeta, at the door of the bar Casa Flores. El País counted two people seriously gored by horn across the fiesta. Bull temperament, weather, crowd behavior on the course, and the specific lineup of ganaderías all shape the outcome of any encierro.
What was significant about Guardiola Fantoni running in 1984?
A Guardiola Fantoni bull killed two runners on July 13, 1980. In 1984 the ranch ran the third encierro, on July 9, and no one died.
Did Miura gore anyone in the 1984 encierro?
No deaths were recorded in the 1984 Miura closing run on July 14, which El País gave 2 minutes 45 seconds. El País counted two people seriously gored by horn across the whole fiesta. The claim that Miura ran from 1982 to 2000 without goring anyone is wrong: the Miura bull Hacinador gored a runner on July 7, 1996.
Sources
Every fact on this page is checked against these sources. Where sources disagreed, the one closest to the day won.
- El País, "El primer encierro, rápido y limpio", 1984-07-08. elpais.com
- El País, "El encierro más peligroso", 1984-07-10. elpais.com
- El País, "Dos heridos graves en el encierro más largo", 1984-07-11. elpais.com
- El País, "Los heridos del encierro del día 10 evolucionan favorablemente", 1984-07-12. elpais.com
- El País, "Menor presencia de corredores en el sexto encierro", 1984-07-13. elpais.com
- El País, "El encierro más rápido de las fiestas", 1984-07-14. elpais.com
- El País, "Los Miura lograron un último encierro espectacular", 1984-07-15. elpais.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?
The 1983 fiesta came the year before, and the 1985 fiesta the year after. Explore both adjacent years for the full picture of what the early-to-mid 1980s encierro looked like as a sustained stretch of running history.