San Fermín 2011: The Running of the Bulls
July 6 to 14, 2011. A fiesta of fast, clean runs and a crowded apartment on Calle Estafeta. Eight ganaderías, eight encierros, the teaser that launched Chasing Red.
What 2011 Was Really Like
2011 was the year things started to take shape. I met one of my closest friends, Brandon, that fiesta, he came with a small crew of three people, and those connections became part of what Encierro grew into.
We filmed a teaser that summer for what would eventually become “Chasing Red.” At the time the project was still finding its form, but the footage we captured that week was part of what gave it direction.
The apartment situation that year was extraordinary, even by fiesta standards. We had roughly 19 people packed into approximately 650 square feet, a tiny three-bedroom. People slept on every available surface. I have never been able to turn away a friend during San Fermín, and that year was the proof of it. One individual who later went on to serve as a U.S. Congressman slept in the bathtub with a pañuelo tied over his eyes. There was simply no other space.
Dennis Clancey, Founder, Encierro
Eight Clean Runs and a Debut Season
The 2011 fiesta produced a remarkably clean set of encierros. The opening Torrestrella run on July 7 was fast and incident-free. Victoriano del Río debuted on July 12 with one of the fastest runs in recent memory at 2 minutes 16 seconds, a time that placed it among the ten quickest in thirty years. The week had no deaths and relatively few horn gorings compared to recent fiestas. The most dangerous moments came on July 8 with a divided Cebada Gago herd and on July 13 when the El Pilar bull ‘Resistón’ separated and charged repeatedly on Estafeta.
The 2011 encierros coincided with Victoriano del Río’s first appearance in Pamplona, a debut that announced a ganaderia that would become a fiesta fixture. El Pilar on July 13 produced the fastest run of the week. Núñez del Cuvillo closed on July 14 with a clean 2:20 that brought the fiesta to a quiet end. See every year in the full archive, or compare with 2010 and 2012.
Victoriano del Río ran Pamplona for the first time and delivered one of the ten fastest encierros in thirty years of records.
Every 2011 Encierro, Day by Day
Each run with its ganadería, time, horn injuries, and the official video archive. The route covers approximately 849 meters from Santo Domingo to the ring; see the route map.
Torrestrella
A fast, clean opener. The Torrestrella herd from Cádiz moved tightly through the course and produced two light contusion cases requiring hospital transfer, but no horn gorings. A promising start to the fiesta.
Cebada Gago
The herd divided for much of the course, stretching the clock to 3:10. A 24-year-old Australian was gored in the leg. Five runners were hospitalized for various injuries. A tense morning with the broken pack raising danger throughout.
Dolores Aguirre
A busy Saturday crowd witnessed a compact, fast run in which the herd stayed largely together. One runner was gored by horn, and three were treated at hospital. Dolores Aguirre’s bulls were praised as the best livestock of the feria.
Miura
A tense but ultimately clean Miura run that lasted 2:38. Eleven runners were treated for traumatisms and contusions, but the feared Miura bulls produced no horn gorings on this occasion. A rare clean morning for the most storied ganadería.
Fuente Ymbro
A rapid, clean run from the Cádiz ranch. One black bull broke ahead of the pack and ran the second half of the course alone. Only one runner needed attention, for a light leg contusion. One of the most fluid mornings of the fiesta.
Victoriano del Río Debut
The fastest run of the feria and one of the ten quickest in thirty years of records. Victoriano del Río’s debut in Pamplona produced a spectacular, fast morning. Seven runners were treated overall; two received horn wounds. The ranch announced itself immediately.
El Pilar
The El Pilar bull ‘Resistón’ separated from the pack and charged at least eight runners on the Estafeta stretch. One runner was gored. Despite the incident, the overall time was among the briefest of the week. A dramatic penultimate morning.
Núñez del Cuvillo
A clean, quiet close to the fiesta. The Núñez del Cuvillo bulls finished the 2011 encierros without a horn goring. Three runners were transferred to hospital with contusions. The Pobre de Mí followed that evening in the Plaza del Castillo.
The Stories the Numbers Leave Out
The Official San Fermín 2011 Poster
Cartel: “Súmergete en la Fiesta” by Kike Balenzategui Arbizu and Javier Ayerra Alfaro.
Two professional photographers from Barañáin and Tafalla submitted the winning image: a figure dressed in the white and red of San Fermín falling into a container of water, the pañuelo and white suit visible through the splash. The image invited viewers to immerse themselves in the fiesta, “Sumergete” meaning to plunge in.
The poster was chosen by public vote from eight finalists selected from 582 submissions. Of 8,227 votes cast, the winning poster received 3,720, or 45.2% of the total, an emphatic margin in a competitive field.
Source: Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, cartel archive
The official San Fermín 2011 cartel was chosen via the city’s annual poster contest, the concurso de carteles.
The City in 2011
The chupinazo opened San Fermín 2011 at noon on Wednesday, July 6. The fiesta ran through Thursday, July 14, when the candlelit Pobre de Mí ceremony in the Plaza del Castillo ended nine days of festivities at midnight.
The Concurso Internacional de Fuegos Artificiales continued its run of nightly displays from the Ciudadela park. The bullfighting program at the Plaza de Toros featured all eight ganaderías matched to the corresponding encierro ranch each afternoon, maintaining the tradition of pairing the morning run with the evening corrida. The 2011 Feria del Toro was noted for Dolores Aguirre producing the most praised bulls in the ring, three of her six toros brought genuine emotion to an afternoon the corrida critics considered the best of the week.
2011, As the World Saw It
A selection of the international coverage of San Fermín 2011.
Find Your 2011 Run
The Pamplona photographers and the Navarra press shoot every morning. These links go straight to the 2011 galleries.
How 2011 Came Together
The planning and key dates, kept on the record.
The poster “Súmergete en la Fiesta” by Kike Balenzategui Arbizu and Javier Ayerra Alfaro was announced as the winner of the public vote, with 3,720 of 8,227 ballots cast, 45.2% of the total, the largest winning share in several years.
Eight ranches confirmed: Torrestrella (Cádiz), Cebada Gago, Dolores Aguirre, Miura, Fuente Ymbro (Cádiz), Victoriano del Río (debut), El Pilar (Salamanca), and Núñez del Cuvillo. Victoriano del Río ran Pamplona for the first time.
The chupinazo at noon opened San Fermín 2011. The first encierro, Torrestrella, ran the following morning, July 7, in 2:37 without a horn goring.
Victoriano del Río debuted in Pamplona with a 2:16 run, the fastest of the fiesta and among the ten quickest in thirty years. Two runners were gored; the herd moved with exceptional speed and cohesion.
The eighth and final encierro of 2011, with Núñez del Cuvillo, ran in 2:20 without a horn goring. That evening, the Pobre de Mí closed the fiesta at midnight in the Plaza del Castillo.
San Fermín 2011, Answered
Which ganaderia ran in each encierro in 2011?
Torrestrella on July 7, Cebada Gago on July 8, Dolores Aguirre on July 9, Miura on July 10, Fuente Ymbro on July 11, Victoriano del Rio on July 12, El Pilar on July 13, and Nunez del Cuvillo on July 14.
What was the fastest encierro in San Fermín 2011?
Victoriano del Rio on July 12, at 2 minutes 16 seconds, the fastest run of the fiesta and one of the ten quickest recorded in thirty years. It was also the ranch’s first-ever appearance in Pamplona.
How many runners were gored in San Fermín 2011?
Approximately five runners were gored by horn across the eight encierros. The most dangerous moments came with the divided Cebada Gago herd on July 8 and with the El Pilar bull ‘Resiston’ charging repeatedly on Estafeta on July 13.
Was anyone killed in San Fermín 2011?
No. There were no deaths in 2011. The last death in the Pamplona encierro was Daniel Jimeno Romero on July 10, 2009, gored by the Jandilla bull ‘Capuchino’ on Telefonica. He remains the last person killed in the running of the bulls in Pamplona.
Planning your own run?
2011 is part of the record. For what came before, see San Fermín 2010, or learn the route with the runners who have studied it longest.