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.
Curated by Dennis Clancey
· Founder of Encierro, veteran bull runner
8
Encierros
2:11
Fastest run
0
Deaths
What 2011 Was Really Like
Dennis Clancey · Founder, Encierro
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
2011 in contextEight Clean Runs and a Debut Season
The 2011 fiesta produced a remarkably clean set of encierros. The opening Torrestrella run on July 7 produced no horn gorings. Victoriano del Río ran on July 12 in 2 minutes 16 seconds. The week had no deaths. The most dangerous moments came on July 8, when Cebada Gago gored two runners, and on July 13, when the El Pilar bull ‘Resistón’ charged and knocked down several runners.
El Pilar on July 13 produced the fastest run of the week, at 2:11. 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.
El Pilar ran the fastest encierro of 2011 on July 13, at 2:11.Morning by morning
Every 2011 Encierro, Day by Day
Each run with its ganadería, time, horn injuries, and the official video archive. The route covers 848.6 meters from Santo Domingo to the ring; see the route map.
Thu July 7 · First run
Torrestrella
2:30
Gored: 0
A clean opener with no horn gorings. Four runners were taken to hospital with minor injuries.
Fri July 8 · Second run
Cebada Gago
3:10
Gored: 2
The run lasted 3:10. Two runners were gored by horn, the more seriously hurt a young Australian man. Seven runners were taken to hospital.
Sat July 9 · Third run
Dolores Aguirre
2:56
Gored: 1
A very fast run of 2:56 on a crowded Saturday. One runner was gored by horn.
Sun July 10 · Fourth run
Miura
2:27
Gored: 0
A clean Miura run that lasted 2:27. Ten runners were treated for trauma injuries, but there were no horn gorings.
Tue July 12 · Sixth run
Victoriano del Río
2:16
Gored: 2
Victoriano del Río, in its second year in Pamplona, produced the fastest run of the fiesta to that day. Seven runners were treated overall; two received horn wounds.
Wed July 13 · Seventh run
El Pilar
Gored: 0
The El Pilar bull ‘Resistón’ charged and knocked down several runners. No runner was gored. Despite the incident, the run lasted 2:11, the fastest of the week. A dramatic penultimate morning.
The Stories the Numbers Leave Out
The second year
Victoriano del Río’s Second Pamplona Run
Victoriano del Río ran Pamplona for the second year on July 12, 2011, in 2 minutes 16 seconds.
The lone bull
‘Resistón’ Works the Estafeta
On July 13, the El Pilar bull ‘Resistón’ charged and knocked down several runners. No runner was gored. The incident concentrated the danger of the week’s most dramatic morning into a single, relentless animal.
The formation
The Teaser for Chasing Red
In 2011, filming began on what would become the documentary “Chasing Red.” The footage captured that week in Pamplona, including runs filmed from inside the encierro, formed the core visual language of the project. The film would go on to reach audiences worldwide and bring a new generation of runners to the streets of Pamplona.
The Official San Fermín 2011 Poster
Cartel by Kike Balenzategui Arbizu and Javier Ayerra Alfaro.
The poster was chosen by public vote, in which 8,227 votes were cast.
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.
Beyond the runThe 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 included Dolores Aguirre among its eight ganaderías.
In the world press2011, As the World Saw It
A selection of the international coverage of San Fermín 2011.
PhotographsFind Your 2011 Run
The Pamplona photographers and the Navarra press shoot every morning. These links go straight to the 2011 galleries.
Wikimedia CommonsSanfermines 2011 photo archive
The recordHow 2011 Came Together
The planning and key dates, kept on the record.
Before the fiesta
The poster by Kike Balenzategui Arbizu and Javier Ayerra Alfaro won the public vote, in which 8,227 ballots were cast.
The lineup
Eight ranches confirmed: Torrestrella, Cebada Gago, Dolores Aguirre, Miura, Fuente Ymbro, Victoriano del Río, El Pilar and Núñez del Cuvillo.
6 July 2011
The chupinazo at noon opened San Fermín 2011. The first encierro, Torrestrella, ran the following morning, July 7, in 2:30 without a horn goring.
12 July 2011
Victoriano del Río ran in 2:16, the fastest run of the fiesta to that day. Two runners were gored.
14 July 2011
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 ganadería 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 Río on July 12, El Pilar on July 13, and Núñez del Cuvillo on July 14.
What was the fastest encierro in San Fermín 2011?
El Pilar on July 13, at 2 minutes 11 seconds.
How many runners were gored in San Fermín 2011?
Two runners were gored with Cebada Gago on July 8, one with Dolores Aguirre on July 9 and two with Victoriano del Río on July 12. The Torrestrella, Miura, El Pilar and Núñez del Cuvillo runs produced no horn gorings. On July 13 the El Pilar bull ‘Resistón’ knocked down several runners but gored no one.
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 Telefónica. He remains the last person killed in the running of the bulls in Pamplona.
Sources
Every fact on this page is checked against these sources. Where sources disagreed, the one closest to the day won.
- Mundotoro, "Victoriano del Rio se estrena", 2010-07-12. mundotoro.com
- Mundotoro, "Torrestrella, de 470 a 635 kilos", 2011-07-07. mundotoro.com
- Aplausos, "Los cebadas para hoy", 2011-07-08. aplausos.es
- Periodico de Ibiza (EFE), "San Fermin (tag page 13, EFE photo captions)", 2011-07-09. periodicodeibiza.es
- Mundotoro, "Miuras de vertigo", 2011-07-10. mundotoro.com
- Aplausos, "Sorteados los fuenteymbros", 2011-07-11. aplausos.es
- Mundotoro, "Los de Victoriano, a punto", 2011-07-12. mundotoro.com
- Aplausos, "Resiston se lidiara en quinto lugar", 2011-07-13. aplausos.es
- Aplausos, "Tres cinqueños en la corrida de Cuvillo de esta tarde", 2011-07-14. aplausos.es
- Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, "Votacion cartel Sanfermines 2019, participacion historica", 2019-04-30. pamplona.es
- Onda Vasca, "16 fallecidos en el encierro desde 1900", 2022-07-11. ondavasca.com
- Periodico de Ibiza (EFE and Reuters captions, tag page), "Etiqueta chupinazo, pagina 3". periodicodeibiza.es
- Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, "Carteles de San Fermin (cartel archive)". pamplona.es
- sanfermin.com (commercial site), "El encierro mas rapido". sanfermin.com
- sanfermin.com (commercial site), "Los Torrestrella, a lo suyo". sanfermin.com
- sanfermin.com (commercial site), "Herido por imprudencia". sanfermin.com
- sanfermin.com (commercial site), "Sin huecos para correr". sanfermin.com
- sanfermin.com (commercial site), "Arrolladores Miuras". sanfermin.com
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.