Running with the Bulls

In Running With The Bulls, Gary Gray grabs hold of us and takes us on a grand and intimate tour of one of Spain's most passionate and historic cities. In 1926, Ernest Hemingway brought the frenetic charge of Pamplona's Festival of San Fermin to life in The Sun Also Rises. Today, that same energy still exists for the hundreds of thousands of people who descend upon the city every July. At the centre of the celebration is the famous encierro - the running of the bulls. In this traditional event, thousands of thrill-seeking men and women race through the narrow streets of Pamplona just steps ahead of half a dozen angry bulls, each bred to kill and brandishing razor-sharp horns that can impale a victim in a split second. The goal of the corredores, the runners, is to usher the bulls into the Plaza de Toros where, that afternoon, each will meet his death under the sword of a torero, or bullfighter. Gray, has participated in the encierro every year for over two decades. He has befriended dozens of Pamplonicas, many of whom are closely tied to the inner circle of the Festival. From this unique perspective, he leads us on several crazed sprints to the Plaza de Toros. He explains the histor