Runners take on bulls at San Fermin festival

Armed with courage – and many with a little too much to drink – thousands of runners scrambled down Pamplona’s narrow cobblestone streets in Spain early today, chased by a pack of massive bulls in the first run of the famous San Fermin festival.

Pamplona native Ramon Garayoa, 46, fell and was seriously injured. One other runner was gored and two others suffered broken wrists and chest bruises.

None of the injuries were considered life-threatening, according to Pamplona city officials.

At 8am, six bulls, each weighing about three quarters of a tonne, stormed out of a corral where they spent the night, then zoomed up packed Cuesta Santo Domingo street at the start of the 825-yard run.

They were accompanied by six castrated steers who know the route and are meant to keep the bulls in a single pack.

Hundreds of runners, all wearing the traditional white shirt and trousers, and sporting red handkerchiefs, took turns dashing in front of them.