Running Of The Bulls: Six Injured On Opening Day [Video]

In another example of “don’t try this at home,” six participants were hurt today in the first day of the annual Running of the Bulls festival in Pamplona, Spain, including a local senior who was gored.

AP reports that this morning’s race lasted for almost three minutes.

The gored runner, a 73-year-old Pamplona resident, was taken to a local hospital. Five others were treated for cuts and bruises, the regional government of the province of Navarre said in a statement.

CNN adds that a runner from Japan was dragged through the street by a bull’s horn.

The San Fermin festival in Pamplona–a huge moneymaker for the local economy–runs for seven days, and bulls are released every morning at 8 a.m. for thrill-seekers from all over the world seeking a weird adrenaline rush. Here’s how AP described the scene today.

Runners, in traditional white clothing and red kerchiefs around their necks, tripped over each other or fell in the mad daredevil annual rush along early morning dew-moistened slippery streets to the bull ring of the northern Spanish city.

Government regulations apparently require that runners must be at least 18 years old, run in the same direction as the bulls, not incite the bulls, and not be under the influence of alcohol.

According to MSNBC, “The San Fermin running of the bulls festival became world famous with the publication of Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises. It is also known around the world for its wild all-night street parties which commemorate the city’s patron saint.”

Six runners have been killed in the event since 1924 plus untold injuries.

Each afternoon, the same animals are herded into a bull fighting ring to go against real matadors.

Watch this morning’s Running of the Bulls:

[iframe src=”http://www.youtube.com/embed/HMlU3728Kh0?rel=0? frameborder=”0? width=”560? height=”315?]

Is the running of the bulls on your bucket list?