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The 500-kilo bull has been known to hospitalise runners.
San Roque welcomes thrill seekers for annual bull run

San Roque welcomes thrill seekers for annual bull run

The event takes place on the last day of the town's feria, 13 August

ASH BOLTON

Friday, 10 August 2018, 17:06

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Mext Monday, 13 August, at 7am, a 500-kilo bull will run through the streets of San Roque chasing hundreds of thrill seekers. It's fair to say it's not everyone's cup of tea, but several hundred people are set to literally run for their lives through the streets of San Roque for the town's annual bullrun.

FACTS

  • Antiquity. The event dates back to 1649 and takes place the morning after the last day of San Roque's feria.

  • Welfare. No harm comes to the bull and it is sent back to the stockbreeder's estate in the countryside afterwards.

  • Of interest. There is no outer corridor in the San Roque bull ring as the plans for it were drawn up by a local mathematics teacher who made a mistake in his calculations.

The event takes place on the last day of the town's feria and sees a fighting bull chase locals for 500 metres through a steel barricaded route to the town's bull ring.

Dating back to 1649, the bull run started when the original Spanish inhabitants of Gibraltar would go to the old Shrine of Saint Roque (built in 1508) in pilgrimage and hold a bull run. The shrine was located in the historical centre of the town where the parish church is today.

The tradition then continued after the Spanish population founded San Roque in 1704 when British and Dutch forces took the Rock.

Next Monday's bull run will see the fighting bull spend an hour in the bull ring with the runners, before three younger bulls replace him.

During the event no one is allowed to touch the bull and a local association runs alongside the animal to make sure no one hurts it. Afterwards the bulls are sent back to a stockbreeder's estate in the countryside.

For more information, visit www.sanroque.es

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