The Fiesta so far has been one of moments of glory and moments of hilarity, all among old strangers and new friends. The star of the show has been the American bull-runner Dennis Clancey, formerly of 20th Special Forces Group in Iraq, and now one of the presenters of Esquire TV’s coverage of the encierro, the ‘bull-run’, as you can see in the photo below.
Dennis was running on the horns of the main herd of the bulls on July 9th down calle Mercaderes when the lone lead bull, which had shot out in front, came crashing to the ground in front of various runners standing on the side including the legendary Joe Distler. However, before anyone else could react, Dennis reached out with his hand and with a click of his fingers summoned the bull to join the rest of the herd and took them all around the curve.
Some were not so lucky, on July 7th, Mike Webster from Gainesville, Florida, photographed below running in previous years, was gored in the chest by a bull from the Jandilla ranch. However, Mike was released from hospital later that day and we’ve seen him recovering in various bars around town, dining out on his story. (Not true, Mike is one of the more dignified and humble runners.)
This weekend is set to be the most dangerous weekend of running, with the French Bastille Day holiday releasing thousands of new runners into the streets. Luckily a runner we haven’t seen so much of in the run this year, Alexander Fiske-Harrison, is present as ever in the press, having published ‘The survivor’s guide to running with the bulls’ in The Local, Spain’s English language newspaper (online here).
He is photographed below with John Hemingway (by Cristen Hemingway Jaynes, another of Ernest’s grandchildren) in Bar Windsor after running on July 7th this year.

Ernest Hemingway’s grandson John talking with Alexander Fiske-Harrison in the Fiesta of Pamplona 2015, taken by Ernest’s granddaughter Cristen Hemingway Jaynes
We took this photo from his blog as apparently where he claims he has fled to France to avoid the French for the weekend.
We leave you below with his contribution to the magazine of the New York City Club Taurino (with thanks to Lore Monig, the club president.)
Lucy G.
(Dep. Ed.)