San Fermín 1986: Eight Runs and a Murteira Morning
July 6 to 14, 1986. Eight encierros, four runners gored on Santo Domingo on July 10, and a Murteira appearance from Portugal.
Curated by Dennis Clancey
· Founder of Encierro, veteran bull runner
8
Encierros
0
Deaths
Looking Back at 1986
Dennis Clancey · Founder, Encierro
Looking back at 1986, the run that jumps out is the Cebada Gago morning of July 10, when El País reported four runners gored in the first metres, on Santo Domingo. That stretch, straight out of the corral, is where the bulls are at their freshest, and 1986 is a reminder that a run can go wrong in its first seconds.
Looking back at 1986 through the encierro's lens, the ganadería lineup was strong and regionally varied. Miura closed the fiesta on July 14. The 1986 fiesta was a solid and serious edition, neither record-breaking nor tragic, which in Pamplona counts as a good year.
Dennis Clancey, Founder, Encierro
1986 in contextThe Encierro in 1986
Eight ganaderías ran in 1986, from José Murube Escobar on July 7 to Miura on July 14. El País reported a fast opening run with no one hurt, two Guardiola Fantoni bulls left behind on Estafeta on July 8, when an American runner broke a collarbone, and four runners gored in the Cebada Gago run of July 10. No one died.
On July 13 the Portuguese ganadería Murteira ran the seventh encierro, and Miura closed the fiesta the next morning. Murteira would return in 1987 and 1988; El País called the 1988 run the herd’s third Pamplona encierro.
"In Pamplona, the bulls do not care which party is in power. The street is the only constituency that matters."Morning by morning
Every 1986 Encierro, Day by Day
Each run with its ganadería. The route runs 848.6 meters from Santo Domingo to the ring. A video of the July 12 run is in the SanFerminEncierroTV archive on YouTube.
Mon July 7 · First run
José Murube Escobar
El País reported six José Murube Escobar bulls covering the route in a little over 2 minutes 30 seconds, with no one hurt.
Tue July 8 · Second run
Guardiola Fantoni
El País reported two bulls left behind on Estafeta; an American runner broke a collarbone.
Thu July 10 · Fourth run
Cebada Gago
El País reported four runners gored in the first metres of the fourth run, on Santo Domingo.
Sat July 12 · Sixth run
Marqués de Domecq
A video of the July 12, 1986 encierro is in the SanFerminEncierroTV archive on YouTube.
What the Record Remembers
Santo Domingo
Four Gored on Santo Domingo
The fourth encierro, on Thursday, July 10, brought the Cebada Gago bulls to the street. El País reported four runners gored in the first metres of the run, on Santo Domingo. No one died that week.
Taurine Culture
Murteira at Pamplona: The Iberian Border Crossing
Bullfighting culture on the Iberian Peninsula has never respected national borders with much consistency. Portuguese and Spanish taurine traditions share bloodlines, terminology, and centuries of cross-pollination. When Murteira Grave sent bulls to Pamplona for the July 13 encierro in 1986, it was a reminder that the world's most famous bull run drew from a geography wider than Spain alone.
Records and Streaks
Miura Closes 1986
The Sevilla ranch closed the 1986 fiesta on July 14. The claim that Miura ran at Pamplona from 1982 to 2000 without goring anyone is wrong: the Miura bull Hacinador gored a runner on July 7, 1996.
The Official CartelThe 1986 Sanfermines Official Cartel
Cartel 1986 by Xabier Idoate Iribarren.
Xabier Idoate Iribarren also made the 1985 cartel.
Source: Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, cartel archive
Beyond the runThe City in 1986
The chupinazo opened the fiesta at noon on July 6, and the first encierro ran the next morning with six José Murube Escobar bulls, which El País reported covered the route with no one hurt.
The week ended on July 14 with Miura on the street in the morning and the Pobre de Mí at midnight.
The recordHow 1986 Came Together
Key facts in the 1986 fiesta, kept on the record.
6 July 1986
The chupinazo rocket launches from the Pamplona city hall balcony at noon, officially opening the nine-day fiesta of San Fermín.
7 July 1986
Run 1 gets underway with José Murube Escobar bulls, setting the week's opening pace through Calle Santo Domingo, Calle Estafeta, and into the Plaza de Toros. The encierro season is officially open.
12 July 1986
The Marqués de Domecq run, preserved on video, gives a visual record of what a mid-1980s encierro looked like in motion. Footage (YouTube: UAKwheuvmH0) shows the compressed energy of the Estafeta straightaway.
14 July 1986
Miura bulls close the fiesta.
San Fermín 1986, Answered
How many gorings occurred during the 1986 San Fermín encierros?
El País reported four runners gored on Santo Domingo in the fourth run, on July 10. No deaths occurred.
Did Miura bulls gore anyone during the 1986 encierro?
The sources found for this page do not give a goring count for the July 14, 1986 Miura run. 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, "Un primer encierro rápido y sin heridos", 1986-07-08. elpais.com
- El País, "Peligro en San Fermín (portada)", 1986-07-09. elpais.com
- El País, "Llegaron las cornadas", 1986-07-11. elpais.com
- El País, "Miurada de pesadilla", 1986-07-15. elpais.com
- El País, "Un herido muy grave y otro grave en el primer encierro", 1996-07-08. elpais.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 1985 fiesta set the stage for everything that followed, with many of the same ganaderías building their Pamplona records across consecutive years. The 1987 edition brought Cebada Gago and Murteira back to the street.