San Fermín 1989: Eight Runs and a Baltasar Ibán Debut
July 6 to 14, 1989. Eight encierros without a single death, and the first run of the Baltasar Ibán bulls on July 13.
Curated by Dennis Clancey
· Founder of Encierro, veteran bull runner
8
Encierros
0
Deaths
Looking Back at 1989
Dennis Clancey · Founder, Encierro
Looking back at 1989, it is striking how unremarkable the fiesta can look from a distance, and how much that is itself the story. No one died, although El País reported two runners seriously gored on July 10 and two more on July 12. The ganaderías brought capable animals, the streets filled as they always do, and Pamplona absorbed another July without a death to mark it.
Looking back at 1989, the line that catches my eye is El País describing the Sunday run of July 9 as fast and very crowded. Weekend runs in Pamplona are still the crowded ones, and running well in that crush is a skill of its own.
Dennis Clancey, Founder, Encierro
1989 in contextThe Encierro in 1989
Eight ganaderías ran in 1989, from Celestino Cuadri on July 7 to Miura on July 14. The chupinazo fired on July 6, and the next morning the Cuadri bulls, back in Pamplona after six years, ran with no one gored and 26 people bruised, according to El País.
El País reported two runners seriously gored by the Guardiola Fantoni bulls on July 10 and two more in the ring during the Cebada Gago run of July 12. On July 14 a Miura bull knocked down Ángel María Zavalza Escalada, who suffered broken ribs. No runner died.
"The encierro doesn't care about history. It only cares about the next corner."Morning by morning
Every 1989 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 SanFerminTV archive on YouTube.
Fri July 7 · First run
Celestino Cuadri
El País reported Celestino Cuadri bulls back in Pamplona after six years, in a run of a little over 3 minutes with no one gored and 26 people bruised.
Sat July 8 · Second run
Murteira
Sun July 9 · Third run
Pablo Romero
El País reported a fast, very crowded Sunday run.
Mon July 10 · Fourth run
Guardiola Fantoni
El País reported two runners seriously gored by the Sevilla bulls.
Wed July 12 · Sixth run
Cebada Gago
Cebada Gago ran on July 12. El País reported two runners seriously gored in the ring. The run was recorded on video by SanFerminTV, and the footage is preserved on YouTube.
Thu July 13 · Seventh run
Baltasar Ibán
El País reported the first encierro ever run by the Madrid ranch's bulls, in 2 minutes 19 seconds, the fourth fastest since 1975.
What the Record Remembers
Statistics
After a Hard 1988
El País counted six people gored by horn in the July 12, 1988 Cebada Gago run alone. In 1989 it reported serious gorings on July 10 and July 12, and no one died.
Ganadería
Guardiola Fantoni, Year After Year
From 1985 through 1989, Guardiola Fantoni appeared on the encierro calendar every single year. For a ganadería, a sustained Pamplona presence builds recognition in both directions: experienced runners learn the character of the animals, and the ranch itself earns a place in the encierro's institutional memory.
Ganadería
Baltasar Ibán’s First Encierro
On Thursday, July 13, the bulls of the Madrid ranch Baltasar Ibán ran their first encierro. El País timed it at 2 minutes 19 seconds and called it the fourth fastest encierro since 1975.
Official Sanfermines PosterSan Fermín 1989: Official Cartel
Cartel 1989 by J. Luis y Alberto Ollo Casas.
Source: Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, cartel archive
Beyond the runThe City in 1989
The chupinazo opened the fiesta at noon on July 6, and the encierros ran at 8:00 a.m. every morning from July 7 to July 14. On Sunday, July 9, El País described the Pablo Romero run as fast and very crowded.
Miura closed the fiesta on the morning of July 14, and El País reported two runners injured in that last run. No one died in the eight encierros of 1989.
The recordHow 1989 Came Together
Key facts in the 1989 fiesta, kept on the record.
6 July 1989
The chupinazo fires at noon in the Plaza Consistorial, officially opening the 1989 San Fermín fiesta. The city shifts into its annual nine-day mode.
7 July 1989
Run 1 gets underway with Celestino Cuadri bulls. Eight mornings of encierros begin at 8:00 a.m.
12 July 1989
Cebada Gago's run is captured on video by SanFerminTV.
14 July 1989
Miura closes the fiesta on the final morning, completing an encierro week with no deaths.
San Fermín 1989, Answered
Which ganadería had the most notable run in 1989?
Cebada Gago's July 12 run, in which El País reported two runners seriously gored in the ring, was recorded on video by SanFerminTV (wx5ZJbblVKU).
How did 1989 compare to 1988 in terms of gorings?
El País counted six people gored by horn in the July 12, 1988 Cebada Gago run alone. In 1989 it reported two runners seriously gored on July 10 and two on July 12, and no one died in either year.
Did Miura gore anyone in 1989?
El País reported two runners injured in the July 14, 1989 Miura run, one knocked down by a bull with broken ribs; it does not report a horn wound. 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.
What was Guardiola Fantoni's significance in 1989?
The Sevilla ranch ran the fourth encierro on July 10, 1989, in which El País reported two runners seriously gored. It had run at Pamplona every year from 1985 through 1989.
Sources
Every fact on this page is checked against these sources. Where sources disagreed, the one closest to the day won.
- El País, "26 contusionados en el primer encierro", 1989-07-08. elpais.com
- El País, "Un rápido y multitudinario encierro", 1989-07-10. elpais.com
- El País, "Dos heridos graves en el encierro del lunes", 1989-07-11. elpais.com
- El País, "Seis heridos en el quinto encierro", 1989-07-12. elpais.com
- El País, "Dos heridos graves en el sexto encierro", 1989-07-13. elpais.com
- El País, "El cuarto encierro más rápido desde 1975", 1989-07-14. elpais.com
- El País, "Dos heridos en el último encierro", 1989-07-15. elpais.com
- El Encierro (magazine) n56, via Dialnet, "Arquitecturas alrededor del encierro (Javier Torrens Alzu)", 2020-06. dialnet.unirioja.es
- 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 1988 fiesta brought a Cebada Gago run of 7 minutes 47 seconds with six people gored: see the 1988 year-in-review for the full account. And to see what came next, the 1990 encierro is one page away.