San Fermín 2019: The Running of the Bulls
July 6 to 14, 2019. The last complete fiesta before COVID. Eight encierros, eight ganaderías, every video, and the stories that defined the final pre-pandemic summer.
What 2019 Was Really Like
I remember 2019 clearly. We had no idea at the time that it would be the last normal fiesta for three years. That knowledge only came later, and it changes the way you look back at every morning on the course that July.
The opener with Puerto de San Lorenzo was a rough start. A loose bull in the cajetón caused a pile-up that gored three runners before anyone had found their footing for the week. The Miura closer on the 14th was the most dangerous morning I can recall from that year: one bull ran the whole course alone and found three more people before the ring. In between those bookends there were some beautiful mornings, and La Palmosilla’s debut on the 13th was something special to watch: fast, clean, bulls ahead of the steers almost from the start. That run alone is worth studying if you want to understand how the encierro looks when everything goes right.
What I tell runners now is that 2019 was a reminder that any year can surprise you. Eight gored, and the two hardest mornings came at the very beginning and the very end. You prepare for the run you have, not the one you imagine.
Dennis Clancey, Founder, Encierro
The Last Summer Before the Silence
The danger in 2019 was concentrated at the edges. The first morning and the last morning together accounted for six of the eight horn gorings, both driven by a single loose bull working the route alone. ‘Pitinesco’ of Puerto de San Lorenzo opened the fiesta with three gored in the cajetón; ‘Rabanero’ of Miura closed it with three more. The six middle days produced only two gorings between them, including a zero-injury debut for La Palmosilla that set the fastest time of the fiesta.
In the count that matters most, eight runners gored by horn made 2019 the highest single-year total since 2016. But the encierro has always concentrated its danger in moments, and 2019 was no different. It was also, though no one knew it yet, the last uninterrupted set of eight encierros before the pandemic cancelled San Fermín outright in 2020 and 2021, the first suspension since the Spanish Civil War. Read every year in the full archive, or see how 2019 compares to 2018 and 2020.
Eight gored, the highest since 2016, and yet the six mornings in the middle were among the cleanest of the decade.
Every 2019 Encierro, Day by Day
Each run with its ganadería, time, horn injuries, and the official RTVE video. The route runs about 849 meters from Santo Domingo to the ring; see the route map.
El Puerto de San Lorenzo
A dangerous opener. The bull ‘Pitinesco’ separated from the herd and charged in the cajetón at the ring entrance, goring three runners including two Americans. A pile-up of fallen runners compounded the damage.
Cebada Gago
Overnight rain left the pavement wet and slippery. The herd split into three groups on Estafeta, producing successive falls. One runner caught by horn, light wound.
José Escolar
A fast, clean morning. The herd ran tight for most of the route; a steer slipped near the end of Estafeta and briefly brought down two bulls, but all animals recovered quickly. No horn gorings.
Jandilla
A fast, clean run on the morning of the Jimeno tribute. No gorings, but a young American was hospitalized hours later with a head injury sustained on the course, two small brain hemorrhages, not life-threatening.
Victoriano del Río
The slowest run of the fiesta. The last bull lingered disoriented in the ring, stretching the clock. One runner gored in the arm on Telefónica, a 27-year-old from Valencia.
Núñez del Cuvillo
Described as dangerous and fast. Two bulls fell on Estafeta. A 57-year-old runner from Cascante was gored in the leg on the Santo Domingo slope.
La Palmosilla Debut
The fastest run of the fiesta and the most electric morning of the week. The Tarifa ranch ran San Fermín for the first time and its bulls overtook the steers near the start, at times four running at the head. Zero gorings on a packed Saturday crowd.
Miura
The most dangerous morning of the fiesta. The Miura bull ‘Rabanero’ separated near the start and ran most of the route alone, goring three runners in Telefónica. Two Australians and a Spaniard caught; none life-threatening. Miura’s ninth consecutive closing run.
The Stories the Numbers Leave Out
The Tribute at Post 66
Before the fourth run on July 10, 2019, the parents of Daniel Jimeno Romero returned to the fence at post 66 on Telefónica to mark the 10th anniversary of their son’s death. They placed flowers at the exact spot where Daniel, 27, was gored in the neck by the Jandilla bull ‘Capuchino’ on July 10, 2009, and laid a San Fermín neckerchief bearing the names of every runner who has died in the Pamplona encierro.
The timing was significant. The fourth run of 2019 was itself a Jandilla morning, the same ganaderiía that had claimed Daniel’s life ten years before. The run passed post 66 cleanly that morning. Daniel Jimeno remains the last person killed in the running of the bulls in Pamplona. Sixteen runners have died across more than a century of the encierro, and 2019 added no name to that list.
Official Sanfermines Poster, 2019
Cartel: “Ayer soñé con un 6 de julio” by Edurne Taínta Balda.
A 24-year-old illustrator from Burlada, Edurne Taínta became the sixth woman to design the winning San Fermín poster. Her image shows the Plaza Consistorial at dawn on July 6 seen from a balcony, warm golden tones bleeding into the deep blues of the night just passed. The title translates as “Yesterday I dreamed of a 6th of July.”
The poster was chosen by public vote on 3 May 2019, receiving 3,180 votes (29.9%) from a record turnout of 10,629 voters, the highest participation since the public vote system was introduced in 2008. The prize was 3,600 euros.
Source: Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, cartel archive
Named the official cartel of San Fermín 2019 after winning the Ayuntamiento’s annual poster contest.
The City in 2019
The chupinazo opened the fiesta at noon on Saturday, July 6. The honor of firing the rocket was given to La Pamplonesa, the municipal band of Pamplona, in recognition of its centenary year. Citizens of Pamplona voted to select them as the honorees, making 2019’s opening ceremony a celebration of the band’s 100 years of fiesta music as much as of San Fermín itself.
The International Fireworks Competition (Concurso Internacional de Fuegos Artificiales) held its 20th edition in 2019. The winner of the San Fermín de Oro was Pirotecnia Vulcano, with the collection “Ciudadela en llamas” (Fortress in flames), launched on July 13. Nine days after the chupinazo, the fiesta closed at midnight on July 14 with the candlelit Pobre de Mí in the Plaza del Castillo, as it does every year.
2019, As the World Saw It
A selection of the international coverage of San Fermín 2019.
How 2019 Came Together
The planning and key dates, kept on the record.
The poster “Ayer soñé con un 6 de julio” by Edurne Taínta Balda was announced as winner of the public vote, with a record 10,629 ballots cast, the highest turnout since the system began in 2008.
Assembly of the vallado (the double wooden fence lining the route) began, approximately 900 posts, 2,700 boards and 2,500 wedges installed by Carpintería Hermanos Aldaz between the Corrales del Gas and the ring.
Eight ranches confirmed: El Puerto de San Lorenzo, Cebada Gago, José Escolar Gil, Jandilla, Victoriano del Río, Núñez del Cuvillo, La Palmosilla (debut), and Miura. La Palmosilla of Tarifa, Cádiz, ran San Fermín for the first time; Miura closed the fiesta for the ninth consecutive year.
The chupinazo fired at noon by La Pamplonesa, the municipal band, in its centenary year, opened the fiesta. Nine days later, at midnight on July 14, Pobre de Mí closed it.
San Fermín 2019, Answered
How many runners were gored in San Fermín 2019?
Eight runners were gored by horn across the eight encierros, the most since 2016. Six of those eight gorings came in just two runs: the opener (Puerto de San Lorenzo, three gored) and the closer (Miura, three gored), both caused by a single loose bull running alone.
Which ganaderia ran in each encierro in 2019?
El Puerto de San Lorenzo on July 7, Cebada Gago on July 8, Jose Escolar Gil on July 9, Jandilla on July 10, Victoriano del Rio on July 11, Nunez del Cuvillo on July 12, La Palmosilla on July 13, and Miura on July 14.
What was the fastest run of the 2019 encierros?
La Palmosilla on July 13, at 2 minutes 12 seconds. It was the ranch’s first-ever appearance at San Fermin. The slowest run was Victoriano del Rio on July 11, at approximately 2 minutes 50 seconds.
Was anyone killed in San Fermín 2019?
No. The last death in the Pamplona encierro was Daniel Jimeno Romero on July 10, 2009. The 2019 fiesta marked the 10th anniversary of that day, and the Jimeno family held their annual tribute at post 66 on Telefonica before the fourth run.
Why is San Fermín 2019 significant?
It was the last complete fiesta before COVID-19 caused the cancellation of San Fermin in both 2020 and 2021, the first suspensions since the Spanish Civil War. The 2019 set of eight encierros is the final uninterrupted record of the pre-pandemic era, and its results are the benchmark for everything that followed in 2022 and beyond.
Planning your own run?
2019 is the record. For what came next, see San Fermín 2020, or learn the route with the runners who have studied it longest.