San Fermín 2008: The Running of the Bulls
July 6 to 14, 2008. The first year of the public vote for the official poster. Eight encierros, eight ganaderías, every video, and the stories from a fiesta remembered for the historic return of Conde de la Corte to Pamplona.
Curated by Dennis Clancey
· Founder of Encierro, veteran bull runner
8
Encierros
2:22
Fastest run (Cebada Gago, July 8)
0
Deaths
What 2008 Was Really Like
Dennis Clancey · Founder, Encierro
That year I met my good friend Jorge, who has been part of my Pamplona life ever since. Before the fiesta I had spent time in southern Spain visiting the bull-breeding ranches, I met the owners of Fuente Ymbro and Cebada Gago, which made watching those encierros in 2008 carry a different weight. I knew something of where those animals came from.
I arrived in Pamplona that year without an apartment arranged. I went early and found someone willing to rent me an attic in the Plaza de la Navarrería, one of the squares in the Casco Antiguo. I packed a large group of friends into it. The fountain in that square was known as the Aussie fountain, Australians would jump off it during the fiesta. One night a drunk man was climbing the fountain and fell badly, badly enough that he was wounded. One of the people staying in my apartment was a dentist and he had sutures with him. He cleaned up the man’s wound and sewed it shut right there in the apartment. I then walked the man down to a taxi and made sure he got where he needed to go. It was the kind of night that only happens in Pamplona.
Dennis Clancey, Founder, Encierro
2008 in contextThe Year Conde de la Corte Returned
The standout ganadería of the 2008 program was Conde de la Corte, which opened the fiesta on July 7 on its return to Pamplona. Cebada Gago followed the next morning. Fuente Ymbro, which Dennis had visited at their southern Spain ranch in the weeks before the fiesta, ran on July 9. Miura ran the penultimate morning on July 13, and Núñez del Cuvillo closed the fiesta on July 14.
2008 was also the year the city of Pamplona changed how the official poster was chosen. For the first time, the winning design by Miguel Ángel Antoñanzas Remón was chosen by public vote, with 6,391 votes cast. Read every year in the full archive, or see how 2008 compares to 2007 and 2009.
Conde de la Corte opened the 2008 fiesta on its return to Pamplona.Morning by morning
Every 2008 Encierro, Day by Day
Each run with its ganadería, time, horn injuries, and official video. The route runs 848.6 meters from Santo Domingo to the ring; see the route map.
Mon July 7 · First run
Conde de la Corte
First run
Conde de la Corte opened the fiesta on its return to Pamplona.
Tue July 8 · Second run
Cebada Gago
Second run
Cebada Gago ran the second morning in 2:22, the fastest run of the fiesta.
Wed July 9 · Third run
Fuente Ymbro
Third run
Fuente Ymbro, a ranch Dennis had visited in the weeks before the fiesta, ran on the third morning.
Thu July 10 · Fourth run
El Ventorrillo
Fourth run
El Ventorrillo took the fourth slot in the ranch’s Pamplona debut; two of its bulls weighed 695 kilos at the sorteo.
Sat July 12 · Sixth run
Dolores Aguirre
Sixth run
Dolores Aguirre Ybarra provided the Saturday morning run.
Sun July 13 · Seventh run
Miura
Seventh run
Miura ran the penultimate morning of the 2008 fiesta. The lot drawn for that afternoon’s corrida was a Miura set of varied coats.
Mon July 14 · Eighth run
Núñez del Cuvillo
Closing run
Núñez del Cuvillo closed the 2008 fiesta. Their bull Ventosillo was drawn to close the Feria del Toro that afternoon.
The Stories the Numbers Leave Out
A rare return
Conde de la Corte Returns
Conde de la Corte ran the first encierro of 2008, on July 7, on its return to Pamplona.
The first public vote
Citizens Choose the Poster for the First Time
2008 marked the first year the official San Fermín poster was chosen by public vote. Miguel Ángel Antoñanzas Remón’s design won, and 6,391 votes were cast.
Before the fiesta
Ranch Visits in Andalucía
Before arriving in Pamplona in 2008, Dennis visited the bull-breeding operations of Fuente Ymbro and Cebada Gago in southern Spain and met both ranches’ owners. When those same animals ran the course at 8 a.m. in Pamplona that July, the connection between ranch and encierro had a different texture than it does when you watch from a barrier without that prior knowledge.
San Fermín 2008 Official Poster
Cartel: Miguel Ángel Antoñanzas Remón.
2008 was the first year the winning poster was chosen by popular vote, with 6,391 ballots cast.
Source: Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, cartel archive
The 2008 San Fermín official poster, selected through the annual concurso de carteles held by Pamplona each year.
Beyond the runThe City in 2008
The chupinazo opened the fiesta at noon on Sunday, July 6, 2008, with the traditional rocket fired from the balcony of the Plaza Consistorial. The nine days that followed carried the full program of morning encierros, afternoon bullfights at the Plaza de Toros, evening concerts, fireworks, and the round-the-clock activity of the peñas in the streets and bars of the Casco Antiguo. The fiesta closed at midnight on July 14 with the candlelit Pobre de Mí.
The Feria del Toro, the afternoon bullfight series that runs parallel to the encierros, ran through the fiesta.
The recordHow 2008 Came Together
The planning and key dates, kept on the record.
Before the fiesta
The winning poster by Miguel Ángel Antoñanzas Remón was the first San Fermín poster chosen by popular vote, with 6,391 votes cast.
The route
Assembly of the vallado was installed along the 848.6-meter route from the Santo Domingo corrals to the bullring.
The lineup
Eight ranches confirmed: Conde de la Corte, Cebada Gago, Fuente Ymbro, El Ventorrillo, Jandilla, Dolores Aguirre, Miura, and Núñez del Cuvillo.
6 July 2008
The chupinazo fired at noon from the Plaza Consistorial opened the fiesta. Nine days later, at midnight on July 14, Pobre de Mí closed it.
San Fermín 2008, Answered
Which ganaderías ran in San Fermín 2008?
Eight ranches ran from July 7 to 14: Conde de la Corte (July 7), Cebada Gago (July 8), Fuente Ymbro (July 9), El Ventorrillo (July 10), Jandilla (July 11), Dolores Aguirre (July 12), Miura (July 13), and Núñez del Cuvillo (July 14).
Was anyone killed in San Fermín 2008?
No. There were no fatalities in the 2008 encierros. The last death in the Pamplona running of the bulls was Daniel Jimeno Romero on July 10, 2009. No runner died in the course in 2008.
What was special about the 2008 San Fermín poster?
2008 was the first year the official San Fermín poster was chosen by popular vote. Miguel Ángel Antoñanzas Remón’s design won, and 6,391 votes were cast.
Which ganadería opened San Fermín 2008?
Conde de la Corte opened the 2008 fiesta on July 7, on its return to Pamplona.
Sources
Every fact on this page is checked against these sources. Where sources disagreed, the one closest to the day won.
- mundotoro.com, "Sorteados los toros de Conde de la Corte para su regreso a Pamplona (Sorteo)", 2008-07-07. mundotoro.com
- mundotoro.com, "Sorteados los toros de Cebada Gago bajo un gran ambiente (Previo y Sorteo)", 2008-07-08. mundotoro.com
- sanfermin.com (commercial site), "sanfermin.com run report, 2008 run 2 (just a jab from the cebada gago bulls)", 2008-07-08. sanfermin.com
- mundotoro.com, "Gran expectacion en el sorteo de los Fuente Ymbro (Sorteo)", 2008-07-09. mundotoro.com
- mundotoro.com, "Dos toros de 695 kilos para el debut de El Ventorrillo (Sorteo)", 2008-07-10. mundotoro.com
- opinionytoros.com, "SAN FERMÍN: LOS TOROS DE 2008 (II)", 2008-07-10. opinionytoros.com
- mundotoro.com, "Sorteado un lote de Dolores Aguirre con aparato (Sorteo)", 2008-07-12. mundotoro.com
- mundotoro.com, "Pamplona: Sorteada una miurada de variada pinta (Sorteo)", 2008-07-13. mundotoro.com
- mundotoro.com, "El toro Ventosillo pondra fin a la feria de San Fermin (Sorteo)", 2008-07-14. mundotoro.com
- Diario de Cuyo, "San Fermin se cobro su primera victima fatal desde 2003", 2009-07. diariodecuyo.com.ar
- Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, "Carteles de San Fermin (official cartel archive)". pamplona.es
- Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, "News item with cartel vote participation table 2008 to 2019 (node 19766)". pamplona.es
- Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, "The Encierro (Bullrun)". pamplona.es
Planning your own run?
2008 is part of the record. For what came next, see San Fermín 2009, or learn the route with the runners who have studied it longest.