Three people, including a 36-year-old Irishman, were taken to the hospital on Saturday due to injuries received in the fifth day of the Pamplona bull run, just one day after a Spanish man was gored to death at the event.
Dubliner Alan Chambers who is still recovering in the Navarra Hospital from his head wounds, spoke with the Irish Independent about his lucky escape after he confronted a lone bull that had broken away from the pack.
Chambers, who works at a language school in Madrid, said: "I'm in a hospital bed and they've put me on drips. But I'm not too bad. I am very aware that I was very lucky.
"The bulls went by me and I thought that was it. Then this black one came by. I suppose I antagonized him. I had a rolled newspaper and I hit him with it.”
Chambers denied that he shouted at the bull. "I'm sure I didn't do that. But he singled me out. It was if he thought to himself: 'I'll go for him!' And he did. He came backwards and then swung round to his left and just laid into me. I never realized these animals could move like that.
"He kicked the side of my head. I am grazed all the way down the left side of my face. And there are lots of grazes on my back that I didn't realize I had. But I know it could have been a lot worse and that I was lucky," he said.
Nevertheless, Chambers says he plans on running in the annual Pamplona festival again next year.
"Despite what happened, running was a good experience and I reckon I'll run again next year,” he said.
"It's something I've always wanted to do and I'm still glad I did it.”
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