In the weeks leading up to his 30th birthday in July 1992, Anthony Iacono, not yet the Secaucus Town Administrator, vowed to do something to celebrate that was a bit daring – if not outright dangerous.
“I just wanted to do something that made me feel as if I was still alive,” he said.
So he leaped out of an airplane over New York State from 18,000 feet. At the time, he thought it was the most frightening moment in his life.
That changed earlier this month, when Iacono decided to celebrate his 40th birthday by running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain.
Iacono, an active jogger and marathon runner, was among the 2,000 people in this year’s running, an event that is considered among the most dangerous sport in the world. This year, in fact, six people were gored seriously by the bulls – one of whom, a Kansas City woman named Elinzey Sain, Iacono saw victimized during his run.
Iacono spent five days in Spain and ran twice during what is a daily morning ritual. He said he was impressed with the history of the town, and stunned by the nearly two million people who came to witness the festivities.
“There were people from all around the world,” he said.
Pamplona is a small town in the northern part of Spain, and the Running of the Bulls is part of a festival called La Fiesta De San Fermin – held in the second week of July each year. Although a tradition over 600 years old, it came to popularity worldwide attention thanks to Ernest Hemingway, who wrote about it in his novel, The Sun Also Rises.
The celebration recounts the story of St. Fermin, who was martyred when bulls dragged him through the streets. Although the Running of the Bulls is center of the festivities, it is only part of a nearly non-stop nine-day party.
Despite the fact that an American woman was among those gored by the bulls this year, Spanish men consider it a right of passage, and technically women are not supposed to run.
The festival is kicked off when the mayor files a rocket into the air, after which people party day and night throughout the city – often continuing their party binge right up until the daily running of the bulls at 8 a.m.
“El Encierro” or the Running of the Bulls, starts at one side of the city when the bulls are let loose from a coral and herded through the streets to a stadium, where later in the day, they are killed in bullfights.
Iacono said the path the bulls take is barricaded off by six-foot high wooden fences, usually thick with spectators.
The run begins in front of Town Hall at the Plaza de la Constitucion. Hemingway spent a great deal of time there, and during those times when there are no bulls running, street performers, live bands and local people hold dance exhibitions there.
About 7 a.m. the crowds begin milling along the bulls’ route. People ask each other: “Are you running?”
“You really have to be nuts,” Iacono said. “Someone shoots off a rocket and then someone opens the coral to let the bulls out.”
Who let the bulls out?
Iacono remembers the narrow streets and the tunnel-like effect as he ran. He admits he was terrified, frequently glancing over his shoulder to see where the bulls were. At one point, two of the bulls passed him in the street.
Iacono said there are cattle in the streets as well, part of the effort to encourage the bulls to keep moving through the streets. Although 2,000 runners start the run, many more join in or are thrust into the fray by the overly enthusiastic crowd.
“If you’re lucky you can jump over a barricade,” Iacono said. “Eventually you run into the rink where the bull fights happen.”
Approaching the stadium is said to be the most dangerous part of the run because there is a bottleneck of people trying to get inside. But runners are not safe even in the stadium, since the bulls need to be corralled again. This takes time, and the six bulls involved in the run usually continue to chase the runners around the stadium. Some people leap into the grand stands for safety. Sometimes the crowd tosses them back to the bulls.
Iacono said he doesn’t know what he will do for his 50th birthday.
“I’m thinking about it now,” he said. “It’s going to be hard to top this one.”