San Fermín 1997: Jandilla ran fifth, and the Miura encierro of July 13 was suspended.
July 6 to 14, 1997. Seven encierros ran, no one died, and the Miura encierro of July 13 was suspended.
Curated by Dennis Clancey
· Founder of Encierro, veteran bull runner
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Deaths
Looking Back at 1997
Dennis Clancey · Founder, Encierro
Looking back at 1997, several things are worth noting separately. First, the lineup itself: Jandilla ran fifth, the Miura encierro of July 13 was suspended, and El Pilar closed. Second, the bulls of María Luisa Domínguez ran on July 9. And third, the year produced no deaths, the kind of outcome that the taurine world calls, with understated precision, a normal festival.
Looking back further, 1997 fits into a mid-decade pattern of consolidation in the encierro's international profile. The Tassio coverage of 1995 had not faded entirely; it had settled into something more durable: a baseline international awareness that kept the encierro in travel journalism and in the conversations of backpackers planning European summers. The internet was beginning to accelerate this. By 1997, running in Pamplona had become something that a certain kind of North American or Australian traveler put on a shortlist alongside Oktoberfest and the Camino de Santiago.
Dennis Clancey, Founder, Encierro
1997 in contextJandilla, Miura Penultimate, and a Changing Roster
Eight ganaderías were set for 1997, from Conde de la Corte on July 7 to El Pilar on July 14, with Hermanos Astolfi on July 12 and El Pilar on July 14 both making their Sanfermines debut.
Seven of them ran. The Miura encierro set for July 13 did not run: the authorities suspended the corrida of July 12 and the encierro of July 13 after a local political figure was killed. No encierro that year killed anyone.
Morning by morningEvery 1997 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
Conde de la Corte opened the 1997 festival. El País reported a Pamplona runner, 31, seriously gored by a Conde de la Corte bull.
Tue July 8 · Second run
Guardiola Fantoni
El País reported a Navarran runner, 24, gored by a Guardiola bull.
Wed July 9 · Third run
María Luisa Domínguez
El País reported a scare in the callejón caused by a María Luisa Domínguez bull.
Thu July 10 · Fourth run
Torrestrella
El País reported a runner whose lung was pierced by a Torrestrella bull. The run came two years after the Torrestrella bull "Castellano" killed Matthew Tassio.
Fri July 11 · Fifth run
Jandilla
El País called it the first run of 1997 without a serious injury: the Jandilla bulls caught no one with their horns. The Jandilla bull Huraño ran far ahead of the herd and covered the route in 1 minute 45 seconds, the fastest on record according to the Asociación de Empresarios de Hostelería y Turismo de Navarra.
Sat July 12 · Sixth run
Hermanos Astolfi
El País reported the debut of the Astolfi ganadería at the Sanfermines, in a run where police struggled to push the crowd back before the rocket.
Sun July 13 · Encierro suspended
Miura
The Miura encierro of July 13 was suspended after a local political figure was killed; the authorities had also suspended the corrida of July 12.
What the Record Remembers
Ganadería
Jandilla Takes Its Place
On July 11, 1997, the Jandilla bull Huraño ran far ahead of the rest of the herd and covered the route in 1 minute 45 seconds, the fastest time on record according to the Asociación de Empresarios de Hostelería y Turismo de Navarra. El País reported that no runner was caught by a horn that morning.
Ganadería
María Luisa Domínguez on the Card
María Luisa Domínguez bulls ran the third encierro, on July 9, 1997. El País reported a scare in the callejón caused by one of them.
Position
The Suspended Miura Encierro
Miura was scheduled for the seventh encierro, on July 13, 1997. After a local political figure was killed, the authorities suspended festive acts, including the corrida of July 12 and the Miura encierro of July 13. The claim that Miura ran from 1982 to 2000 without goring anyone is also wrong: the Miura bull Hacinador gored a runner on July 7, 1996.
Official Sanfermines PosterThe Official San Fermín 1997 Poster
Cartel 1997 by Javier y Mitxelo Gurutxaga Leache.
Source: Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, cartel archive
Beyond the runThe City in 1997
Pamplona in 1997 was a city that had internalized the international attention without being overwhelmed by it. The old city, the casco antiguo within the sixteenth-century walls, remained the festival's center: the bars of the Calle Estafeta and the surrounding streets, the Plaza del Castillo, the narrow corridors that become the encierro course. Outside the walls, the modern city had grown considerably, but the fiesta compressed everything into the historic core.
The July sun hit the limestone facades at a particular angle in the early morning that runners remember longer than the specific details of any single run, and the crowds of 1997 were no different: international, young, sleep-deprived, and completely absorbed in the experience of the encierros. The Pobre de Mí at midnight on July 14 closed the festival as it had done for generations before.
The recordHow 1997 Came Together
Key facts in the 1997 fiesta, kept on the record.
6 July 1997
The chupinazo opens the 1997 fiesta at noon. The mayor, Javier Chourraut, lights the rocket.
9 July 1997
María Luisa Domínguez's bulls run the third encierro of the festival.
11 July 1997
Jandilla runs the fifth morning; its bull Huraño covers the route in 1 minute 45 seconds.
13 July 1997
Miura encierro of July 13 is suspended after a local political figure is killed.
San Fermín 1997, Answered
Which ganaderías ran in 1997 and in what order?
The ganaderías of 1997, in order: Conde de la Corte (Jul 7), Guardiola Fantoni (Jul 8), María Luisa Domínguez (Jul 9), Torrestrella (Jul 10), Jandilla (Jul 11), Hermanos Astolfi (Jul 12), Miura (Jul 13, encierro suspended), El Pilar (Jul 14).
Why was Jandilla considered significant in 1997?
Jandilla ran the fifth encierro on July 11, 1997. Its bull Huraño covered the route in 1 minute 45 seconds, the fastest time on record according to the Asociación de Empresarios de Hostelería y Turismo de Navarra, and El País reported no one caught by a horn.
What happened on the July 9 run in 1997?
The July 9 run featured bulls from María Luisa Domínguez. El País reported a scare in the callejón caused by one of them.
What happened to the 1997 Miura encierro?
It did not take place. The Miura encierro scheduled for July 13, 1997 was suspended after a local political figure was killed. 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, "Empezaron las fiestas de San Fermín", 1997-07-07. elpais.com
- El País, "Primer día, primera cornada", 1997-07-08. elpais.com
- El País, "Creí que sólo era un golpe hasta que me ardió la pierna", 1997-07-09. elpais.com
- El País, "Susto en el callejón", 1997-07-10. elpais.com
- El País, "Un "torrestrella" le perfora un pulmón a un mozo", 1997-07-11. elpais.com
- El País, "Por fin un encierro sin heridos graves", 1997-07-12. elpais.com
- El País, "Los sanfermines se unen al dolor", 1997-07-13. elpais.com
- El País, "La masa provoca más miedo que los toros", 1997-07-13. elpais.com
- El País, "El encierro menos multitudinario", 1997-07-15. elpais.com
- Público, "La víctima número 15 en la historia de los Sanfermines", 2009-07-10. publico.es
- Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, "Encierro (turismo, French version)". pamplona.es
Planning your own run?
For 1996, the year Miura ran the opening morning, see the 1996 page. For 1998, the year Jandilla opened the festival, see the 1998 page.