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.
Curated by Dennis Clancey
· Founder of Encierro, veteran bull runner
8
Encierros
8
Gored by horn
2:12
Fastest run
0
Deaths
What 2019 Was Really Like
Dennis Clancey · Founder, Encierro
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. Three runners were gored 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: three more people were gored. In between those bookends there were some beautiful mornings, and La Palmosilla’s debut on the 13th was something special to watch: fast and clean. 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
2019 in contextThe 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. On the first, a Puerto de San Lorenzo bull stumbled near the end of the course and three runners were gored. ‘Rabonero’ of Miura broke from the group on the last morning, and three more were gored. The six middle days produced two gorings between them, and La Palmosilla’s debut set the fastest time of the fiesta with no one gored.
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 in 2020 and 2021, the first time since 1937 and 1938 that the fiesta was not held two years in a row. Read every year in the full archive, or see how 2019 compares to 2018 and 2020.
Eight gored, the highest since 2016, and two of them in the six middle mornings.Morning by morning
Every 2019 Encierro, Day by Day
Each run with its ganadería, time, horn injuries, and the official RTVE video. The route runs 848.6 meters from Santo Domingo to the ring; see the route map.
Sun July 7 · First run
Puerto de San Lorenzo
2:41
Gored: 3
A dangerous opener. Near the end of the course a bull stumbled, and three runners were gored: a 46-year-old American in the neck, and a 23-year-old American and a 40-year-old Spaniard in the thigh.
Tue July 9 · Third run
José Escolar
2:13
Gored: 0
A fast run despite some stumbles, as RTVE reported. No horn gorings.
Wed July 10 · Fourth run
Jandilla
2:19
Gored: 0
A fast run on the tenth anniversary of Daniel Jimeno’s death. No gorings.
Thu July 11 · Fifth run
Victoriano del Río
2:49
Gored: 1
The slowest run of the fiesta. One runner was gored in the arm, a 27-year-old from Valencia.
Sat July 13 · Seventh run
La Palmosilla Debut
2:12
Gored: 0
The fastest run of the fiesta, frantic and clean in RTVE’s words, in La Palmosilla’s first San Fermín. Zero gorings.
Sun July 14 · Eighth run
Miura
2:42
Gored: 3
A dangerous final run, in RTVE’s words. The Miura bull ‘Rabonero’, the heaviest of the six, broke from the group and charged several times. Three runners were gored: two Australians, aged 27 and 30, and a 25-year-old Spaniard. Miura’s seventh consecutive closing run.
The Stories the Numbers Leave Out
The debut
La Palmosilla Announces Itself
La Palmosilla ran Pamplona for the first time on July 13 and delivered the fastest morning of the fiesta: 2 minutes 12 seconds, with no runner gored.
The lone bull
‘Rabonero’ Closes the Fiesta
On the closing Miura morning, ‘Rabonero’, the heaviest bull of the six, broke from the group and charged several times. Three runners were gored, two Australians and a Spaniard, with wounds to an armpit, an arm and a leg.
The opening goring
Gored While Filming
At the end of the first run on July 7, a bull gored Jaime Alvarez, a 46-year-old American, in the neck while he was filming with his phone. He left hospital in Pamplona two days later.
Ten Years Since Daniel Jimeno
The fourth run on July 10, 2019 came ten years after Daniel Jimeno Romero was gored on Telefónica, and the morning marked the 10th anniversary of his death. He was 27, and the bull was Jandilla’s ‘Capuchino’.
The timing was significant. The fourth run of 2019 was itself a Jandilla morning, the same ganadería that had claimed Daniel’s life ten years before, and no runner was gored that morning. Daniel Jimeno remains the last person killed in the running of the bulls in Pamplona.
Official Poster of 2019Official Sanfermines Poster, 2019
Cartel: “Ayer soñé con un 6 de julio” by Edurne Taínta Balda.
Edurne Taínta Balda, 24, from Burlada, became the sixth woman to design the winning San Fermín poster. 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 10,629 voters, the highest participation since 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.
Beyond the runThe 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. On the last night, the fiesta closed at midnight on July 14 with the candlelit Pobre de Mí in the Plaza del Castillo, as it does every year.
In the world press2019, As the World Saw It
A selection of the international coverage of San Fermín 2019.
CNN, first run (three gored)
CNN, fiesta recap (eight gored)
Euronews, opener
Euronews, mid-fiesta
Fox News, closing run
How 2019 Came Together
The planning and key dates, kept on the record.
3 May 2019
The poster “Ayer soñé con un 6 de julio” by Edurne Taínta Balda was announced as winner of the public vote, with 10,629 ballots cast, the highest turnout since 2008.
The lineup
Eight ranches confirmed: Puerto de San Lorenzo, Cebada Gago, José Escolar Gil, Jandilla, Victoriano del Río, Núñez del Cuvillo, La Palmosilla (debut), and Miura. La Palmosilla ran San Fermín for the first time; Miura closed the fiesta for the seventh consecutive year.
6 July 2019
The chupinazo fired at noon by La Pamplonesa, the municipal band, in its centenary year, opened the fiesta. 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).
Which ganadería ran in each encierro in 2019?
Puerto de San Lorenzo on July 7, Cebada Gago on July 8, José Escolar Gil on July 9, Jandilla on July 10, Victoriano del Río on July 11, Núñez 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 Río on July 11, at 2 minutes 49 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.
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 time since 1937 and 1938 that the fiesta was not held two years in a row. 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.
Sources
Every fact on this page is checked against these sources. Where sources disagreed, the one closest to the day won.
- Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, "Ayer soñé con un 6 de julio, de Edurne Taínta Balda (cartel 2019)", 2019-05. pamplona.es
- Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, "La Pamplonesa lanzara el Chupinazo de las fiestas de San Fermin 2019", 2019-06-12. pamplona.es
- RTVE, "Primer encierro de San Fermin 2019: rapido y accidentado", 2019-07-07. rtve.es
- Euronews, "Panic on first day of Spanish festival as bulls gore three people", 2019-07-07. euronews.com
- Associated Press via Voz de America, "Tres personas son corneadas durante San Fermines en Espana", 2019-07-07. vozdeamerica.com
- RTVE, "Segundo encierro: limpio y veloz de los Cebada Gago", 2019-07-08. rtve.es
- RTVE, "Tercer encierro de San Fermin 2019: Rapido pese a algunos trompicones", 2019-07-09. rtve.es
- RTVE, "Cuarto encierro de San Fermin 2019, trepidante con los jandilla", 2019-07-10. rtve.es
- Associated Press via Washington Times, "4 injured in a new fast race with bulls in Pamplona", 2019-07-10. m.washingtontimes.com
- RTVE, "Quinto encierro de San Fermin 2019: Emocion con los Victoriano del Rio", 2019-07-11. rtve.es
- Euronews, "One gored, 5 more hurt in running of the bulls during San Fermin", 2019-07-11. euronews.com
- RTVE, "Sexto encierro de los Sanfermines 2019: Emocion con los toros de Nunez del Cuvillo", 2019-07-12. rtve.es
- RTVE, "Septimo encierro de San Fermin frenetico y limpio con los toros debutantes de La Palmosilla", 2019-07-13. rtve.es
- AFP via BioBioChile, "Con 8 heridos por asta de toro terminan las fiestas de San Fermin", 2019-07-14. biobiochile.cl
- RTVE, "Los Miura protagonizan un ultimo encierro peligroso con tres heridos por asta", 2019-07-14. rtve.es
- Reuters via The Star, "Spain's Pamplona cancels bull-running festival for second year in row", 2021-04-26. thestar.com.my
- Onda Vasca, "16 fallecidos en el encierro desde 1900", 2022-07-11. ondavasca.com
- Onda Vasca, "Miguel Angel Beltran, premio del XX concurso de fuegos artificiales", 2022-07-13. ondavasca.com
- sanfermin.com (commercial site), "Encierro 2019-07-08". sanfermin.com
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.