San Fermín 2003: The Running of the Bulls
July 6 to 14, 2003. A fiesta marked by the fatal injury of a veteran Pamplona runner. Eight encierros, eight ganaderías, and a year the city would not forget.
Curated by Dennis Clancey
· Founder of Encierro, veteran bull runner
8
Encierros
1
Fiesta Death
8
Ganaderías
2003
Year
Looking Back at 2003
Dennis Clancey · Founder, Encierro
Looking back at 2003, it stands as one of the darkest years in recent encierro history. A veteran Pamplona runner, Fermín Etxeberria Irañeta, suffered a fatal blow from a Cebada Gago bull on the second morning of the fiesta and never regained consciousness. He died in hospital two and a half months later, in September. The tragedy cast a long shadow over the fiesta.
The 2003 lineup was also notable for including several of the most respected and most dangerous ganaderías in the calendar. Jandilla, Cebada Gago, and Miura were all present. The records confirm 2003 as a year that tested the course and the city in equal measure.
Dennis Clancey, Founder, Encierro
2003 in contextEight Mornings, One Tragedy
The 2003 fiesta opened on July 6 with the traditional chupinazo and ran its eight encierros through July 14. The second morning, July 8, proved fatal: a Cebada Gago bull named ‘Clavelino’ caught the veteran runner Fermín Etxeberria Irañeta on Mercaderes, throwing him against the cobblestones with a severe cranial trauma. He was taken to the Hospital de Navarra, where he remained in a coma in the Intensive Care Unit. He died on September 24, 2003, at the San Juan de Dios clinic, more than two months later.
Etxeberria was 62 years old and had been running the course since he was fourteen. He was a member of the board of directors of Osasuna, the Pamplona football club, and a familiar face on the route every July.
Fermín Etxeberria had run the course since he was fourteen. He was sixty-two when the 2003 encierro caught him on Mercaderes.Morning by morning
Every 2003 Encierro, Day by Day
Eight runs, July 7 to 14, 2003. The route runs 848.6 metres from Santo Domingo to the bull ring. See the route map.
July 7 · First run
Alcurrucén
The 2003 fiesta opened with bulls from Alcurrucén, in a run packed with people that left four runners hurt.
July 8 · Second run
Cebada Gago
Gored: 3
The most tragic morning of the 2003 fiesta. The Cebada Gago bull 'Clavelino' caught veteran Pamplona runner Fermín Etxeberria Irañeta on the Mercaderes corner and threw him against the cobblestones, causing a severe cranial trauma; it was not a horn wound. Etxeberria, 62 years old and running the course since age 14, a member of Osasuna's board of directors, never regained consciousness. He died on September 24, 2003. Three other runners were gored by horn that morning.
July 9 · Third run
Juan Pedro Domecq
Juan Pedro Domecq ran the third morning, one day after the fatal Cebada Gago run, in the fastest encierro of 2003. Five runners were lightly hurt.
July 10 · Fourth run
Jandilla
Gored: 3
Jandilla ran the fourth morning in 4:30, a fast, exciting run that left twelve runners hurt. Three of them, all from Pamplona, were gored by horn, one seriously.
July 11 · Fifth run
Adolfo Martín
Ganadería: Adolfo Martín
Adolfo Martín bulls ran a fast, clean fifth encierro, three days after the Cebada Gago run in which Fermín Etxeberria Irañeta suffered the injuries that would claim his life in September.
July 12 · Sixth run
Dolores Aguirre
Gored: 2
The Sevillian ranch of Dolores Aguirre ran the sixth morning, a crowded and dangerous run that left two runners gored by horn.
July 13 · Seventh run
Miura
Gored: 1
Miura ran the penultimate encierro on Sunday, July 13, a very fast run of 2 minutes 56 seconds through the most crowded street of the fiesta, with only one runner gored by horn.
The Stories the Numbers Leave Out
The fatal morning
Fermín Etxeberria and Cebada Gago
The July 8 run with Cebada Gago ended a veteran runner’s life. Fermín Etxeberria Irañeta, 62, had run the encierro since age fourteen. The bull ‘Clavelino’ caught him on Mercaderes, and he never woke from the resulting coma. He died at the San Juan de Dios clinic on September 24, 2003.
The Miura run
Miura and the Crowd
On Sunday, July 13, the Miura bulls ran the most crowded encierro of 2003 in 2 minutes 56 seconds and left only one runner gored by horn.
The full lineup
Eight Ganaderías, One City
The 2003 encierro program included Alcurrucén, Cebada Gago, Juan Pedro Domecq, Jandilla, Adolfo Martín, Dolores Aguirre, Miura and Torrestrella.
Fermín Etxeberria Irañeta
On 8 July 2003, the second encierro of the fiesta, a Cebada Gago bull named ‘Clavelino’ caught Fermín Etxeberria Irañeta on the Mercaderes corner, throwing him against the cobblestones with severe force. The impact caused a critical cranial traumatism. He was taken immediately to the Hospital de Navarra, where he underwent surgery and was placed in the Intensive Care Unit on artificial respiration, in a permanent coma.
Etxeberria was 62 years old and from Pamplona. He had been running the encierro since the age of fourteen and was a member of the board of directors of Club Atlético Osasuna, the city’s football club. He remained hospitalised for two and a half months. On 24 September 2003 he died at the San Juan de Dios clinic in Pamplona.
His death was the first in the encierro since Matthew Peter Tassio in 1995. The next death in the encierro would not occur until Daniel Jimeno Romero on July 10, 2009.
Official Poster of 2003San Fermín 2003: Official Cartel
Cartel: Pablo Nanclares Ruiz.
The 2003 San Fermín poster was designed by Pablo Nanclares Ruiz, selected through the Ayuntamiento de Pamplona’s annual poster competition. The winning work was chosen by a jury.
The full archive of San Fermín official posters is maintained by the Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, cartel archive.
Winner of the annual cartel contest and the official San Fermín 2003 poster for Sanfermines.
Beyond the runThe City in 2003
The chupinazo opened the fiesta at noon on Sunday, July 6. Pamplona’s medical teams, the Cruz Roja de Navarra and the enfermería of the Plaza de Toros, worked through the week attending to injuries across all eight mornings.
The fiesta closed as it always does at midnight on July 14 with the candlelit Pobre de Mí.
The recordHow 2003 Came Together
The planning and key dates, kept on the record.
Before the fiesta
The winning poster by Pablo Nanclares Ruiz was announced. The eight ganaderías were confirmed: Alcurrucén, Cebada Gago, Juan Pedro Domecq, Jandilla, Adolfo Martín, Dolores Aguirre, Miura and Torrestrella.
6 July 2003
The chupinazo opened the fiesta at noon in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento. The vallado was in place along the 848.6-metre route from Santo Domingo to the bullring.
8 July 2003
The Cebada Gago encierro on Mercaderes fatally injured Fermín Etxeberria Irañeta. The bull ‘Clavelino’ knocked him to the cobblestones with a cranial impact. He was transferred immediately to the Hospital de Navarra.
14 July 2003
The eighth and final encierro, with Torrestrella, completed the 2003 fiesta. At midnight, the Pobre de Mí ceremony closed the fiesta.
24 September 2003
Fermín Etxeberria Irañeta died at the San Juan de Dios clinic in Pamplona after spending two and a half months hospitalised.
San Fermín 2003, Answered
Was anyone killed in the 2003 San Fermín encierro?
Yes. Fermín Etxeberria Irañeta, a 62-year-old Pamplona runner and Osasuna board member who had run the encierro since age fourteen, suffered a fatal cranial injury when a Cebada Gago bull named ‘Clavelino’ caught him on Mercaderes on July 8. He died on September 24, 2003, after more than two months in a coma.
Which ganaderías ran in the 2003 San Fermín encierro?
The eight ganaderías were: Alcurrucén (July 7), Cebada Gago (July 8), Juan Pedro Domecq (July 9), Jandilla (July 10), Adolfo Martín (July 11), Dolores Aguirre (July 12), Miura (July 13), and Torrestrella (July 14).
Which was the fastest encierro of 2003?
The third, on July 9, with Juan Pedro Domecq bulls, was the fastest encierro of the 2003 fiesta. Five runners were lightly hurt.
Did an American named Ryan Jobe die at San Fermín 2003?
No. The only encierro death associated with 2003 is that of Fermín Etxeberria Irañeta, a Spanish national from Pamplona. The list of encierro deaths since 1900 published by Onda Vasca in 2022 does not include an American named Ryan Jobe.
Sources
Every fact on this page is checked against these sources. Where sources disagreed, the one closest to the day won.
- Libertad Digital (EFE wire), "el primer encierro de los sanfermines transcurre abarrotado de gente y deja cuatro heridos", 2003-07-07. libertaddigital.com
- Libertad Digital (EFE wire), "el segundo encierro de los sanfermines se salda con tres heridos por asta de toro", 2003-07-08. libertaddigital.com
- Libertad Digital (EFE wire), "el tercer encierro se convierte en el mas rapido de los sanfermines 2003 con cinco heridos leves", 2003-07-09. libertaddigital.com
- Libertad Digital (EFE wire), "tres heridos por asta de toro en el cuarto encierro de los sanfermines que fue veloz y emocionante", 2003-07-10. libertaddigital.com
- El País, "Doce heridos en el cuarto encierro de San Fermín (portada)", 2003-07-11. elpais.com
- Libertad Digital (EFE wire), "el quinto encierro de los sanfermines transcurre de manera veloz y con una carrera limpia", 2003-07-11. libertaddigital.com
- Libertad Digital (EFE wire), "multitudinario y peligroso sexto encierro de san fermin que deja dos heridos por asta de toro", 2003-07-12. libertaddigital.com
- El País, "Un encierro masificado", 2003-07-13. elpais.com
- El País, "Los miuras respetaron a la muchedumbre", 2003-07-14. elpais.com
- Libertad Digital (EFE wire), "mucha emocion y peligro en el ultimo encierro de las fiestas de san fermin 2003", 2003-07-14. libertaddigital.com
- Libertad Digital (EFE wire), "Fallece en Pamplona un corredor que resulto herido en el segundo encierro de los Sanfermines", 2003-09-24. libertaddigital.com
- Onda Vasca (Grupo Noticias), "16 fallecidos en el encierro desde 1900", 2022-07-11. ondavasca.com
- Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, "Carteles de San Fermin (official cartel archive)". pamplona.es
- Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, "The Encierro (Bullrun)". pamplona.es
Planning your own run?
2003 is part of the record. For what followed, see San Fermín 2004, or learn the route with the runners who have studied it longest.