PAMPLONA’S Running of The Bulls is a rite of passage for many. A former Massey University student is among nine injured there last week.
Joel Stirling, 26, studied transport and yacht design at Massey, and travelled to Spain with two of goals: to make the news, and to touch a bull.
He’s done both and now has a broken wrist, but he couldn’t be happier.
“Here if you touch a bull or pull its tail you will get beaten up by the locals, [but] I did touch a bull as I ran next to it…before it pushed me into a wall,” Stirling laughs. “Once you have your first run, it’s the best rush in the world to be running next to a 685kg bull.”
It may not be everyone’s sport of choice, but Stirling took it a step further. After breaking his wrist at the notorious sounding “Dead Man’s Corner”, he kept running.
“Two guys fell in front of me as the bulls ran next to me and I had to jump over them, but as I did, the bulls pushed me and I lost my footing and landed on my left hand,” he says. “It didn’t hurt – it took me a good two hours to feel the pain, maybe [because of the] adrenalin.”
Although he doesn’t think his experience was the craziest in the scheme of things (he saw one guy do a back flip off a statue into the arms of a few waiting people) Stirling feels lucky to be alive, particularly after trying his hand at the “Bull Ring” with a gaggle of other people.
The bull charged, and Stirling found his escape thwarted – there were too many people jumping over a nearby wall for him to make it.
“I accepted what was coming, and then was turned 180 degrees upside down by the people on the wall. The bull and its horns missed me by 1mm, and the crowd went crazy – that was on the news,” he says, adding he was identified as the “Kiwi injured in Running of the Bulls”.
His tips to other Kiwis keen to try the event? “Don’t run is a good one,” he laughs, adding, “but if you do, stick to the walls. Watch it first and walk the track, and find all the doorways you can hide in if you need to. My number one tip is get a marker pen and write your name and address so that when you get to hospital you will have a better chance!”