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Running of the bulls: 4 runners injured, none gored in Spain

Jul 13, 2016 | 4:35 PM

PAMPLONA, Spain — Four people suffered bruises but no one was gored in the fifth running of the bulls Monday at Pamplona’s San Fermin festival, medical officials said.

More than 1,000 people took part in Monday’s run, which lasted three minutes. Many runners and several of the bulls slipped and fell during the crazed dash though the city’s narrow streets to the bullring.

Navarra Hospital Dr. Jon Ariceta said four people were taken to city hospitals with contusions.

A regional government statement later said three of the four — two Spaniards aged 42 and 22, and a 63-year-old American — were kept hospitalized. Their injuries were said to be minor.

The nine-day fiesta, which ends Thursday, became world famous with Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises” and attracts thousands of foreign tourists.

In the nationally-televised runs, daredevils test their speed and bravery by racing with six fighting bulls and accompanying steer along a 930-yard (850-meter) street course to the city’s bullring. The bulls then face matadors and almost certain death in afternoon bullfights.

Bull runs are a traditional part of summer festivals across Spain.

Eleven people, including three Americans, have been gored since the runs started Thursday.

In all, 15 people have died from gorings at the festival since record-keeping began in 1924.

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Ciaran Giles reported from Madrid.

Alvaro Barrientos And Ciaran Giles, The Associated Press