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Running of the Bulls in Pamplona

It was American writer Ernest Hemingway who helped spread the word of the tradition in such books as The Sun Also Rises and Death in the Afternoon.

Today, increasing numbers of tourists join the crowds in Pamplona, Spain at the height of the travel season in July at the famous Running of the Bulls at the annual Fiesta San Fermin.

It begins in 2012, as usual, on July 6 and continues for 8 days (and nights filled with partying and celebration) until July 14.

Media coverage has taken the annual running of the bulls worldwide to the delight of armchair runners everywhere - with news, updates, daily bull running blogs, pictures, and video appearing almost hourly during the nine-day festival.

Of particular interest are photos & video clips depicting victory ... for the bull!

Dramatic gorings, tramplings, and related eyewitness accounts have become the stuff of Internet legend, as images of victims flipped head-over-heels by the horns of an oncoming bull are the stark equivalent of an urban car wreck. Viewers just can't look away.

While the festival at Pamplona remains the most famous, it is only one of the many such running of the bulls events held throughout Spain during the summer.

Usually, they begin as a prelude to a major bullfight, a custom originating in the19th century when townspeople would line the streets to view the bulls being 'run' or transported from their corrals to the arena.

The most macho teens and young men would then show off their bravado by jumping into the herd as it passed.

It's not all in good fun today, however, and various injuries have taken place in recent years. One notable terminal injury occurred last year on July 10 as a 27-year-old Spaniard, Daniel Jimeno Romero, became the first goring fatality since 1995 when a light-brown bull called Capuchino ploughed into a group of runners and spectators.

In the modern running, barricades are often erected along the route to help protect spectators. However, that doesn't stop hundreds of young men from jumping in or ahead of a bull herd, running for their lives in a classic test of man against beast.

More about the Running of the Bulls

• Pamplona Bull Run Route Map

• Pamplona Spain - Running with the Bulls

• The Running of the Bulls, Pamplona Spain

also see in Spain travel -> Madrid Tourist Attractions | Alhambra Palace