"Bra
Marin }

orth Shore News,

_ Bob Hunter _

@ sir ictly personal @

July 17, 1987, -,

1-GOT quite a laugh out of the cutlines on a

that ran in our national paper recently, showing a herd of:
bulls charging through a dense mass of fleecing men,

Quoth the cutline: “Macho
men*took"; to: the . streets? “of
Pamplona, Spain,: yesterday. for
the. first day’ of the San‘ Fermin
Running of the Bulls festival. "

So far, so good:

Thenit added:: ‘The object is :

’ for the men to outrun the bulls."
Ouch!”
7 Allow me 10 submit. a small
correction.
yThe object is :not! — “repeat
NOT =
“the bulls.”
... Bulls run faster than men. Men
‘do not outrun bulls. :

Men merely avoid being gored”

‘as the bulls overtake them.

_ 1 know this with a great deal of |

absolute certainty: because I) ran

with the bulls of Pamplona once. .

Last year; in fac
It was fun. Repeat: FUN!
“It was probably the: most fun
‘I'd had since parachute j jumping.
“Of ‘course there was the chance
of being * trampled;
crushed,’ ‘blinded, disembowelled,
or worse.

vaf. there hadn't been. ‘that risk, :

what fun'would it have been? ,
» My.: ‘heart still:
“starts to‘pump ata higher: rate,

“for the men to outrun o

‘automatically :

just thinking back’ to: that» July”

morning a:-year. jago: when’ my.

: friend... Garry Marchant : and: I

clambered ' over. the wooden: bar-:"

riers" onto “the . narrow; ‘cobbled
‘street in downtown Pamplona:

The last 10’ minutes before th
“rockets: went ‘off,’ signalling. the

"release of ‘the bulls, * were the:

:most “unnerving of my life. I had
10, keep eulping. ’ :

ie Liana were sent.to LGH suffering
from -

“tween

There was a lot of stretching of.

lee muscles, as you would before
ai marathons: No cye contact: be-
mile’ of... streets

crowding . the

through which the bulls would

Fume fe

We were automatically. trying

to. maintain’ as. much’ space. as.

possible around ‘ourselves, for it
- would very:
runner. who~.would knock | you
down or use you as a shield to
save himself. : a

“Tt was! after all,
_ not a runs

» Arun is what joggers. do.

[must admit that while: my
friend Garry looked. superbly
confident, J. was. numbly. licking:
my ‘lips, shaking my. hands «to:
“keep the trembling. out-of them

/ and wishing: 1-had.:grown up

somewhere along the line.

vIn fact, my Friend’s insides had :

completely turned 10, Mush, he
. said later.» ms &
My estimate was that out. of a

* couple of thousand of us inthe:
street, inside the barricades where:
“the “bulls. would. run,
“third were foreigners,’ like my

‘friend .and me, who had. come
from’ far: away. for the peculiar
thrill of i it all. :
I: must. report that Il saw only
two, women. That’s a thousand-
to-one ratio,
“something
what, eh?
You:don’t/ run ‘when: the “first
“rocket goes::You' wait for. the se-
cond, . which’ tells’ whether’. the

We'll: “worry fater

“bulls are running in a herd, along ";

News Repor.

o ‘Luckham, who. was pulled from
the rear seat-of the car, remains in
“ serious’: condition, at
Y Hospital.

Harding, the. car’s: “driver, and
minor, injuries’: but
subsequently released.

“North ® Vancouver: resident
Giorgio Capietti was ‘among the

first‘at the scene and called in the:

wner, who! showed. ‘how rock™ formations. above.
ned due. (0! ‘freezing. nd

wire- photo.

» behind. Ls

the’2,000-or:so of: us-

likely “be: another = street,

about’ a=

ladies. “Which ‘says’. ~

Lions Gate:
's eident,”? he’ said.”

: gasoline when..c
were

‘ worked silently:

“with half a dozen stcers, or if one

has for “some reason lauged

Ie’s the ‘stragglers who. do the
real damage. Losing: sight: of the
herd ‘ahead;: they stomp. and gut!
anyone they can:

Everyone Jogs on

the spot,

“waiting (for ‘the’ second rocket. +

But when that. goes off,-if, ;
you happen to not move in

a stantancoush. you get shoved .— °

hard! And by many hands. :

1-took # last glimpse down the
t, and while 1 couldn't see
the bulls, 1: ‘could, sense” the

= bow-wave. of. energy. ‘pulsating *
: outward from them, which set all :’
‘a stampede, i

of us whirling before it as fast as”
we could possibly run..
I can’t say I rememiber the ac--.

tual run, but | do know. ran hike :
‘I'd neverrun before.

We'd - calculated © that": if we!
started halfway. up the first.win-

ding. street from’ the_bullpen,, we:
-could, make it. to: “the: first’ in-

tersection, where there were. bar-
ricades you could try to climb. 3 if

"worst came to worst.

Until then, We. wer
trapped. a : ae

It was a great plan. | pl

~. But the bulls, as it turned‘ou
run éven faster uphill than . they:
do ona flat surface.

No less than’ five ‘of them. had

passed me, fast as | was running,
: before J even knew. it.

“Anyone ‘of. them could have |
split meinhalf. 2. a

The last bull surged by a cou-
ple of:-feet'away from’ my ‘right
shoulder, — long before | got, to

the safe corner.

{ a ‘ : « :
1. was high, 1 swear, for mon-

“Capietti:. was” ‘parked: atone. of

he mountain's’ scenic: viewpoints
and said three’ carloads of: young
people left the: pullout. a‘ minute ,.
before he did. He ‘saw two of ,the
cars * stopped at ‘the: first:‘curve’
downhill and ‘the third in, the ush ©:
: off the side of the road:

“two crying, girls tan up
and told us’ there had: been /an.a

j Capieti said |

ntered the carito pull-out: the ‘in-
ured. ;*‘All the while, these. people

like a team was’ fantastic:

e ‘car: was spilling "
ofthe! rescuers :

nd’ professionally. ;

° NO FINE PRINT.
° > NO “ADD- ONS”