San Sebastián de los Reyes, a Madrid suburb of around 91,000 residents known locally as "Sanse", launched its annual encierros, or traditional street bull runs, on Tuesday as part of festivities honouring Christ of the Remedies, the city's patron saint.
The event is one of Spain's best-known versions of the tradition and dates back more than five centuries, earning the town a reputation as a "Little Pamplona". The celebrations are considered one of the highlights of the Spanish summer and effectively conclude the country's major bull-running season, several weeks after the end of the San Fermín festival in Pamplona.
The first bull run took place on Tuesday morning with bulls from the Hermanos Tardieu ranch. The animals covered the 810-metre route to the La Tercera bullring in about two minutes.
Around 1,800 runners took part. The fast pace of the bulls left 10 people injured, most of them as a result of falls. Among them was a participant who suffered a head injury and received first aid at the scene.
A second bull run, the only night-time event on this year's programme, took place later the same day with bulls from the Hermanos García Jiménez ranch.
A total of eight bull runs are scheduled through 31 August, including seven morning events at 11am and one night-time run. Different ranches will provide the bulls for each event.
The municipality has installed grandstands with 1,100 seats for spectators and deployed around 300 police officers and security personnel throughout the celebrations. The La Tercera arena, where each run concludes, has a capacity of 5,700 people.
The route begins at the holding pens where the animals are kept and passes through Leopoldo Jimeno, Real Vieja, Postas and Real streets before ending at the bullring.
Participation rules are strict. Only people aged 16 and over are permitted to run. Participants are prohibited from carrying mobile phones or backpacks and may not take part while under the influence of alcohol.
Alongside the adult events, organisers are also staging children's versions of the tradition, using wooden structures shaped like bull heads instead of live animals. These adapted runs allow younger children to participate and will take place daily until 31 August alongside the adult programme.
The San Sebastián de los Reyes festivities are regarded as among Spain's most important bull-running events after the San Fermín celebrations in Pamplona and attract thousands of visitors to the Madrid region each year.
This year's programme also includes bullfights featuring well-known figures from Spanish bullfighting, as well as the traditional recortadores competition, in which athletes demonstrate acrobatic techniques to avoid the bulls without using capes or cloths.
