The first bull run in three years has taken place at the San Fermín festival in the Spanish city of Pamplona. No one was gored, but several runners took knocks and hard falls as tens of thousands of people revelled in the return of one of Europe's most famous traditional events.

Six bulls guided by six tame oxen charged through Pamplona’s streets for around two minutes and 35 seconds without provoking too much carnage among the thousands of observers and participants cramming the course.

Ryan Ward, an American tourist from San Diego, California, said the risk of running with the bulls was well worth the rush.

“I feel like I need to cry. It’s just so many emotions built up in me, running with ‘mis amigos’ (my friends). I don’t know where they are, I lost everyone,” he said after finishing the bull run unscathed.

“It felt like two seconds, it was probably like a minute when I actually had the bulls running by me, but it felt so quick, like a blink and it was gone,” Ward continued.

“It’s amazing, incredible, one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.”

The early morning bull run was the first of eight scheduled. 

Sixteen people have died in bull runs since 1910, most recently in 2009.

The bulls that run each morning are killed in the afternoon by professional bullfighters. Animal rights activists have campaigned against the slaughter of the animals, but bullfights are still popular among segments of Spanish society and remain an integral part of the San Fermín festival.

The incredibly popular Pamplona festivities were canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic.

The course of 875 meters (956 yards) is sprayed with a substance to help prevent the bulls from slipping on the tight corners. The run usually is over within three heart-stopping minutes.

Expert bull runners, mostly locals, try to sprint at full steam just in the front of the bull horns before peeling off at the last second. The inexperienced, a group that includes most foreigners, do well enough to scramble out of the way, often ending up in piles of fellow runners.

Almost everyone in Pamplona this week wears the traditional white shirt and pants with red sash and neckerchief for the festival.