San Fermín 1988: Cebada Gago and the Bloodiest Run in Years
July 6 to 14, 1988. A Cebada Gago run on July 12 that lasted 7 minutes 47 seconds and left six people gored, the bloodiest encierro in years according to El País.
Curated by Dennis Clancey
· Founder of Encierro, veteran bull runner
8
Encierros
0
Deaths
Looking Back at 1988
Dennis Clancey · Founder, Encierro
Looking back at 1988, everything turns on one morning. The Cebada Gago run of July 12 lasted 7 minutes 47 seconds and left six people gored by horn; El País called it the bloodiest encierro in years. No one died that week.
RTVE broadcast that July 12 run. The coverage itself was still relatively young, only six years removed from the 1982 television debut, and the Cebada Gago run gave the network precisely the material that would cement the encierro as a national television event. For anyone studying the history of how this festival grew from a regional tradition into a Spanish institution, 1988 is a year worth examining closely.
Dennis Clancey, Founder, Encierro
1988 in contextThe Encierro in 1988
Eight ganaderías ran in 1988, from Torrestrella on July 7 to Miura on July 14. The week brought a debut, the María del Carmen Camacho bulls on July 9 in a run of 5 minutes 40 seconds, and fast mornings too: El País gave the Pablo Romero run of July 10 a time of 2 minutes 19 seconds and the Murteira run of July 11 a time of 2 minutes 35 seconds.
The 1988 ganadería lineup brought eight ranches to the Calle Estafeta. The Cebada Gago run on July 12 concentrated much of the drama: El País gave it 7 minutes 47 seconds, with six people gored by horn.
"The longest." (RTVE, title of its 2020 archive video of the July 12, 1988 run)Morning by morning
Every 1988 Encierro, Day by Day
Each run with its ganadería. The route runs 848.6 meters from Santo Domingo to the ring.
Thu July 7 · First run
Torrestrella
El País reported the Jerez bulls taking a little over 3 minutes 23 seconds in a very dangerous run, with runners bruised but no serious injuries.
Sat July 9 · Third run
Carmen Camacho
El País reported the debut of the María del Carmen Camacho bulls in the Pamplona encierro, the longest run of the fiesta to that point at 5 minutes 40 seconds.
Mon July 11 · Fifth run
Murteira
El País reported the Portuguese herd's third Pamplona encierro, a fast run of 2 minutes 35 seconds.
Tue July 12 · Sixth run
Cebada Gago
El País reported a run of 7 minutes 47 seconds, the bloodiest encierro in years, with six people gored by horn. In 2020 RTVE published the footage under the title "El más largo" (the longest) in its series Los mejores encierros de San Fermín.
Wed July 13 · Seventh run
Atanasio Fernández
El País reported six Atanasio Fernández bulls from Salamanca on a very fast run with no major incidents.
What the Record Remembers
Broadcast
The Run RTVE Later Called the Longest
On July 12, 1988, the Cebada Gago run lasted 7 minutes 47 seconds and left six people gored by horn; El País called it the bloodiest encierro in years. In 2020 RTVE republished its footage (YouTube: V1dLebEPI30) as "El más largo" (the longest), part of its series Los mejores encierros de San Fermín.
Safety
A Year That Ran Rough
El País counted six people gored by horn in the July 12 Cebada Gago run alone. No one died in the 1988 encierros.
Media
Television and the Making of a National Event
RTVE first broadcast the encierro live in 1982. Its footage of the July 12, 1988 Cebada Gago run is now part of its archive series Los mejores encierros de San Fermín.
Official Poster, 1988Official Poster of San Fermín 1988
Cartel 1988 by Umberto Dos Santos Franca.
Source: Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, cartel archive
Beyond the runThe City in 1988
The chupinazo opened the 1988 fiesta at noon on July 6, and the Torrestrella bulls from Jerez de la Frontera ran the first encierro the next morning, a run El País called very dangerous, with runners bruised but no serious injuries.
Miura closed the encierros on July 14 in 3 minutes 15 seconds, with no one caught, and the Pobre de Mí ended the fiesta at midnight.
The recordHow 1988 Came Together
Key facts in the 1988 fiesta, kept on the record.
6 July 1988
The chupinazo signals the official opening of the 1988 San Fermín festival. The rocket fires from the balcony of Pamplona's city hall, and the crowd in the Plaza Consistorial responds with the traditional red scarves and the first wave of celebration.
7 July 1988
Run 1 opens the encierro week with the Torrestrella ganadería from Jerez de la Frontera.
12 July 1988
Cebada Gago runs the sixth encierro: 7 minutes 47 seconds and six people gored by horn (El País).
14 July 1988
Miura closes the fiesta. The most feared name in the encierro runs without catching anyone (El País). The closing ceremony follows, and the 1988 festival passes into the record.
San Fermín 1988, Answered
What made the 1988 San Fermín encierro stand out?
The July 12 Cebada Gago run: El País gave it 7 minutes 47 seconds, with six people gored by horn, and called it the bloodiest encierro in years.
Why is the July 12, 1988 Cebada Gago run significant?
El País gave the run 7 minutes 47 seconds, with six people gored by horn. In 2020 RTVE republished its footage (YouTube: V1dLebEPI30) as "El más largo" (the longest).
How dangerous was 1988 compared to other years in this era?
El País counted six people gored by horn in the July 12 Cebada Gago run alone, and no one died.
Did Miura gore anyone in 1988?
No. El País reported no one caught in the July 14, 1988 Miura run. The claim that Miura ran from 1982 to 2000 without goring anyone is wrong, though: 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, "Contusionados en el primer encierro, que resultó muy peligroso", 1988-07-08. elpais.com
- El País, "El encierro más largo", 1988-07-10. elpais.com
- El País, "Encierro rápido y sin apuros", 1988-07-12. elpais.com
- El País, "Seis heridos por asta de toro en el sexto encierro", 1988-07-13. elpais.com
- El País, "Encierro veloz y sin percances", 1988-07-14. elpais.com
- El País, "Gran velocidad en el último encierro", 1988-07-15. elpais.com
- El País, "El cuarto encierro más rápido desde 1975", 1989-07-14. 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 1987 festival brought its own lineup and conditions worth examining alongside 1988, and the 1989 encierro brought the first run of the Baltasar Ibán bulls.