More injuries at Pamplona bull run

PAMPLONA, Spain -- Spain's annual Pamplona festival continued to keep hospitals busy on Monday as a sprint in front of some of the country's largest bulls left one person gored and three injured.

Many of the 1,000 runners said they had not slept on Sunday night, attending instead the city's all-night street party, but they shook off tiredness to test their bravery and speed.

Six bulls and six steers ran the 900-yard (metre) course down cobbled streets to a bullfighting ring where the bulls face certain death in bullfights later on Monday afternoon.

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During Sunday's run three people were injured. Jose Maria Perez, a 32-year-old Spaniard, was the most seriously hurt, with an injury in his thigh. Australian Luke Versace and an American identified as Lindsey Saint, 19, from Kansas, were both hit in their left knees at the end of the run.

Crowded streets and slippery stones on which several bulls fell meant the run was unusually dangerous, said commentators. Several animals also got separated from the herd and turned on revellers.

The run followed about 20 hours of non-stop partying by participants. One of them, 28-year-old Rafael told Reuters: "Why am I running? I love bulls and I love parties."

The Pamplona festival, made famous by Ernest Hemingway's 1927 novel "Fiesta: the Sun Also Rises," traditionally includes heavy drinking by the million revellers in the city.

The practice began in 1591 with the need to move the bulls from the countryside to the arena. Daredevils began running in front of the animals in the 1600s.

Since 1924, there have been 13 recorded deaths in the eight-day event. Most recently, a young American was gored to death in 1995.

Two days before the festival began, a small contingent of animal rights activists staged a mock run through Pamplona's streets.

The members of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) ran through the streets naked. Local police did not arrest them, chalking it up to the town's party atmosphere.

-- CNN Madrid Bureau Chief Al Goodman in Pamplona contributed to this report