San Fermín 2023: The Running of the Bulls
July 6 to 14, 2023. Every encierro, every ganadería, every video, and the stories the numbers leave out.
Curated by Dennis Clancey
· Founder of Encierro, veteran bull runner
8
Encierros
3
Gored by horn
2:18
Fastest run
0
Deaths
1,446,025
Attendance
What 2023 Was Really Like
Dennis Clancey · Founder, Encierro
By the count that matters, 2023 was a clean and fast year: three horn wounds across eight mornings, and six of the eight runs over in under two and a half minutes.
But clean and fast is its own kind of danger. A fast herd gives you less time to read it and less time to react. 2023 still had its moments, the bull Forajido catching a runner, the Cebada Gago herd breaking apart and arriving loose among the crowd. The run asks for respect every single morning, whatever the final tally says.
2023 in contextA Fast Year, Three Horn Wounds
The danger never left the streets. On the third morning the Cebada Gago herd broke apart and arrived loose among the runners, and on the seventh the Victoriano del Río bull Forajido gored a runner. And yet, by the count that matters most, three runners received horn wounds across the eight runs, while six of the eight runs finished under 2:25. Read the full archive year by year, or the 2024 recap, to see where 2023 sits.
Six of the eight runs under two minutes twenty-five, and none over three minutes.Morning by morning
Every 2023 Encierro, Day by Day
Each run with its ganadería, time, horn injuries, and the official video. The route runs 848.6 meters from Santo Domingo to the ring; see the route map.
Fri July 7 · First run
La Palmosilla
2:32
Gored: 0
Fast and clean, opening the fiesta for the first time.
Sat July 8 · Second run
José Escolar
2:23
Gored: 1
One runner took a non-penetrating horn blow (varetazo) to the left side of the torso.
Sun July 9 · Third run
Cebada Gago
2:53
Gored: 1
The slowest and most dangerous run of 2023. The herd broke apart and arrived loose among the crowd; one runner gored in the Telefonica stretch.
Tue July 11 · Fifth run
Núñez del Cuvillo
2:21
Gored: 0
Fast and clean. The black bull Farfonillo (555 kilos) ran alone up Estafeta after the Mercaderes curve.
Thu July 13 · Seventh run
Victoriano del Río
2:18
Gored: 1
The fastest run of 2023. The bull Forajido gored Randy Harms, 58, of Curaçao: a slight wound.
The Stories the Numbers Leave Out
The goring
Forajido and Randy Harms
On the fastest morning of the year, the Victoriano del Río bull Forajido gored Randy Harms, a 58-year-old from Curaçao. The wound was slight, and Harms was one of three runners with horn wounds that fiesta.
The lone bull
Farfonillo Runs Alone
On the fifth morning the black Núñez del Cuvillo bull Farfonillo, 555 kilos, ran alone up Estafeta after the Mercaderes curve, the kind of separated animal every runner learns to read and fear.
Clean is not safe
A Serious Blow Without a Horn
The horn count stayed at three, but danger does not only come from horns.
Fourteen Years On
The fourth run, on July 10, fell on the 14th anniversary of the death of Daniel Jimeno Romero, 27, caught by the Jandilla bull Capuchino on Telefónica in 2009.
Daniel Jimeno remains the last person killed in the Pamplona run, and 2023 added no name to the list of the dead.
Official Poster of 2023Official Poster of San Fermín 2023
Official cartel, 2023
The official San Fermín 2023 cartel was chosen via the city's annual poster contest, the concurso de carteles.
Beyond the runThe City in 2023
The chupinazo was fired by Luis Sabalza, president of Osasuna, with a defiant cry of "¡No nos rendiremos!" Germany's Tim Hannig took the San Fermín de Oro for his fireworks display "Seasons in Fire," and the poster, "Instante," caught the run in two inks, red and black. It closed with the candlelit Pobre de Mí at midnight on the 14th.
In the world press2023, As the World Saw It
2023 was the year CNN's "Seeing Red" brought a global audience to the run, with correspondent David Culver running an encierro himself.
The recordHow 2023 Came Together
The planning and key dates, kept on the record.
May 9, 2023
The poster "Instante" by Raúl López Martín won the public vote, a single runner beside a bull in red and black.
June 2, 2023
Assembly of the double vallado began: 900 posts and 2,700 planks, to be completed by July 6.
The lineup
Eight ranches were set with no debutant, La Palmosilla opening for the first time and Miura closing on the 14th.
July 6, 2023
Osasuna opened the fiesta with the chupinazo; nine days later Pobre de Mí closed it at midnight.
San Fermín 2023, Answered
How many runners were gored in San Fermin 2023?
Three, across the eight encierros, by the Navarra Health Department count: a non-penetrating horn blow (varetazo) on July 8 (José Escolar), an arm wound on July 9 (Cebada Gago) and a superficial wound on July 13 (Victoriano del Río).
Which ganaderías ran in 2023?
La Palmosilla, José Escolar, Cebada Gago, Fuente Ymbro, Núñez del Cuvillo, Jandilla, Victoriano del Río, and Miura, in that order from July 7 to 14.
What was the fastest run of 2023?
Victoriano del Río on July 13, at 2 minutes 18 seconds; six of the eight runs finished under 2:25.
Was anyone killed in the 2023 running of the bulls?
No. The last death in the Pamplona encierro was Daniel Jimeno in 2009.
How many people attended San Fermin 2023?
1,446,025 people attended events in the municipal programme, with 16,730 runners across the eight encierros, 28 percent more than in 2022.
Sources
Every fact on this page is checked against these sources. Where sources disagreed, the one closest to the day won.
- Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, "El Ayuntamiento de Pamplona edita un 'periódico' con información del encierro", 2022-07-01. pamplona.es
- RTVE, "Sanfermines 2022: cuarto encierro", 2022-07-10. rtve.es
- Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, "El cartel Instante sera el encargado de anunciar las fiestas de San Fermin este 2023", 2023-05-09. pamplona.es
- Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, "Este viernes 2 de junio comienza el montaje progresivo del vallado de los Encierros", 2023-06-01. pamplona.es
- Onda Vasca, "Sabalza da inicio a las fiestas de San Fermin con No nos rendiremos, aupa Osasuna", 2023-07-06. ondavasca.com
- RTVE.es, "Encierro 1 San Fermin 2023, cronica", 2023-07-07. rtve.es
- Onda Vasca, "Escolares de matricula en el segundo encierro", 2023-07-08. ondavasca.com
- Onda Vasca, "San Fermin: riesgo extremo en el tercer encierro de Pamplona con los Cebada Gago", 2023-07-09. ondavasca.com
- RTVE.es, "Encierro 4 San Fermin 2023, cronica", 2023-07-10. rtve.es
- RTVE.es, "Encierro 5 San Fermin 2023, cronica", 2023-07-11. rtve.es
- Onda Vasca, "Núñez del Cuvillo vuela en un quinto encierro limpio y con pequeños sustos", 2023-07-11. ondavasca.com
- RTVE.es, "Encierro 6 San Fermin 2023, cronica", 2023-07-12. rtve.es
- RTVE.es, "Encierro 7 San Fermin 2023, cronica", 2023-07-13. rtve.es
- Noticias de Navarra, "Secuencia de la cogida de Forajido a un holandés de 58 años (photo gallery)", 2023-07-13. noticiasdenavarra.com
- Rio Negro (EFE), "San Fermin: concluyen los encierros con un total de 35 heridos", 2023-07-14. rionegro.com.ar
- Noticias de Navarra (Gobierno de Navarra health balance), "Osasunbidea atiende 385 urgencias relacionadas con los Sanfermines", 2023-07-14. noticiasdenavarra.com
- Welingelichte Kringen, "Stier doorboort been en scrotum van Nederlander (58) tijdens stierenrennen in Pamplona", 2023-07-14. welingelichtekringen.nl
- RTVE.es, "Encierro 8 San Fermin 2023, cronica", 2023-07-14. rtve.es
- AFP via The Local Spain, "Spain's San Fermin bull runs wrap up with 35 injured but no deaths", 2023-07-14. thelocal.es
- Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, "Casi 1,5 millones de personas participan en los actos programados por el Ayuntamiento", 2023-07-15. pamplona.es
- Ayuntamiento de Pamplona, "Los fuegos artificiales del día 14, del alemán Tim Hannig, se alzan con el San Fermín de Oro", 2023-07-17. pamplona.es
- CNN Press Room, "The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper investigates 'Seeing Red: Running with the Bulls'", 2023-11-20. cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com
- Feria del Toro de San Fermin (Casa de Misericordia, official), "Cartel 2023". feriadeltoro.com
Planning your own run?
2023 is the record. For the upcoming fiesta and how to prepare, see San Fermín 2026 or learn the route with the runners who teach it.