American seriously injured during bullfight

A man from New York was left partially paralysed during a mock bullfight following the first running of the bulls in Pamplona on today, and seven other people were sent to the hospital after being gored or trampled by the massive beasts.

Danger is what draws throngs of revellers to Spain’s most famous festival each year, and danger is what they got in the narrow streets of this ancient Spanish city.

The American man, 31-year-old Ray Ducharme, was thrown by a young cow in an event at the bull ring following the first run.

He underwent a 90-minute operation at the Hospital de Navarra to reattach two vertebrae.

“He is paralysed in the legs, and will have partial use of his arms,” said Pello Pellejero, a Pamplona government spokesman. “He is in very serious condition.”

Seven injuries were reported during the run itself, including at least two serious ones: New Zealander David MacDowell, 25, was gored in the thigh, and a Pamplona native, Ramon Garayoa, 46, fell and was trampled.

The bull run began when six bulls, each weighing about 3/4 ton, stormed out of a corral where they spent the night, then zoomed up packed Cuesta Santo Domingo street at the start of the 900 metre run.

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

Thousands of runners, most wearing a traditional white shirt and pants, and sporting red handkerchiefs dashed in front of them.

Each pack of runners ran with the bulls for a short distance before darting out of harms way.

The rampage ends in minutes, when the bulls rush into the Plaza de Toros, where some of Spain’s better-known bullfighters awaited them in the afternoon. The festival lasts nine days.

Ducharme was injured in what is known as a vaquilla, in which hundreds of people chase five cows around the bull ring, pulling their ears and tail.

The cows are much smaller than fighting bulls, and have much less imposing horns, but they still weigh hundreds of pounds and can be dangerous.

Before Ducharme’s injuries became known, runners said their brush with death was everything they had hoped for.

“It was total emotion. It was absolutely crazy. The bull was right next to me and I touched him,” said Norman Rilling, 25, from Bakersfield, California.

Bulls are surprisingly fast animals, and many of the runners had been up all night drinking.

Police have been instructed not to let anybody who looks too inebriated take part in an effort to cut down on injuries.

But that is easier said then done, and many participants had clearly had long nights.

Julio Bernavides Alvaran, a 65-year-old who came to the festival from Valencia in south-eastern Spain, said he wandered the streets for hours looking for a place to sleep, then had the bright idea of using his credit card to get into an empty bank machine cubicle.

Still, he only had a couple of hours of rest before the run, which he described as the thrill of a lifetime.

“Life disappears, and you feel your blood moving in your veins,” he said. “Either that, or it’s all the whiskey.”

The San Fermin festival dates back to the late 16th century, but it was Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel The Sun Also Rises that made it famous.

A bronze bust of the writer stands outside the bullring where the runs end.

Since record-keeping began in 1924, 13 people have been killed during the runs. The last death was in 1995.