Third running of the bulls of San Fermín 2025 | A fast-paced and exciting run of Álvaro Núñez's bulls, plagued by falls, collisions, and reckless behavior by runners.

Álvaro Núñez's bulls were making their debut in the San Fermin bull run and had arrived in Pamplona with a well-earned reputation as noble and kind animals; but, of course, being good is one thing, and simply enduring the elements of a race full of intruders who block their way and are a major hindrance is quite another. In fact, the medical report mentions one person gored in the leg and two with bruises, but that's very few compared to the number of falls, collisions, and defeats that occurred throughout a thrilling and very fast race that lasted 2 minutes and 21 seconds.

Today is Wednesday, but it felt like the weekend with the crowds that packed the 850-meter route; so many people that it seems impossible for the bulls to make their way through without harming those in their path.

There have been many accidents, unavoidable, of course; numerous falls and defeats by animals that, rather than attacking, were merely defending themselves from the harassment they had received.

The health report is very satisfactory, and one could even say that it doesn't match the spectacular images of the running of the bulls. This would have to be applied to the performance of the San Fermín cape, which does invaluable work every morning so that the many runners who display a recklessness unbecoming of expert fans of this unique, high-risk sport can recount it.

Before eight o'clock, Álvaro Núñez's bulls were already awake, sleepy-faced, of course, onlookers, surprised and scared, trying to guess, perhaps, what the immediate future held for them after the hustle and bustle of the last few days: a tiring road trip and last night's bull run from the Corrales del Gas. Will we be returning to the pasture soon? But the rocket sounds, and a strange feeling grips them, a mixture of restlessness and hope, and...

Their joy was short-lived; it wasn't the green field, no, but the dark asphalt of a slope whose name they don't know, but they know it's unfamiliar. And a few meters away, a crowd of people in white and red pressed against the walls, making way for them with heavy hearts. But their shared joy was short-lived; as they climbed and climbed, more and more people, and more obstacles, stood in their way.

Already on Mercaderes Street, they notice a crowd accompanying them. They descend at full speed—they come charging forward, almost in single file from the corrals, in a mixture of fear and gallantry—and some lose track of space in their flight, so that up to three bulls and a bullfighter crash into the planks of the curve that leads to the straight Estafeta Street.

And it's there, at that point, that the fight begins. The bulls shake off the young men who have positioned themselves between the horns and turn them over with a look of understandable anger. One of the runners, wearing a blue polo shirt, is hooked by a bull's right horn, grazing his skin and dramatically dragging him for several meters. The young man tries unsuccessfully to escape, and the bull runs away in terror to avoid losing the herd. Fortunately, the mesh gives way, and everyone continues on their way. Miracle!

But that was just the beginning. Every morning, Estafeta is a hive of activity; there's no more room for people, it's impossible to walk, and consequently, falls, collisions, and impacts on the hard pavement are frequent.

The same images were repeated on the Telefónica stretch and on the descent to the alley, where small piles formed that forced bulls and steers to jump over the humans, although some of them earned a few stomps, the kind that are long forgotten.

The clock struck two minutes when the first animals reached the ring, and all of them, bulls and oxen, consciously headed toward the corral gate.

There now rest the representatives of this young breed, novices, close relatives of Núñez del Cuvillo, bulls bred and chosen for the enjoyment of the figures, who carry nobility and goodness in their guts, but who protest, and with good reason, when, like this morning, they are bothered.

Awaiting the bullring are Trampero , a red-brown bull weighing 565 kilos; Orrojado , a chestnut bull weighing 550 kilos; Majoleto , a chestnut bull weighing 575 kilos; Aguaclaro, a chestnut bull with a fleck of bragado (running chestnut), weighing 530 kilos; Polvorillo, a soap-colored bull weighing 540 kilos; and Guerrito , a red-brown bull weighing 550 kilos. All six bulls will be fought this afternoon by Morante de la Puebla, Roca Rey, and Tomás Rufo, the first star bullfighter of the 2025 Bull Fair.