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Philadelphia man gored in Pamplona bull run

Michael Lenahan, 23, of Philadelphia, Pa. lies on a hospital bed as he looks at the front page of a newspaper showing the moment that he was gored by a fighting bull during a traditional bull run in Pamplona, Spain, Friday July 13, 2007. His brother was also gored.
Michael Lenahan, 23, of Philadelphia, Pa. lies on a hospital bed as he looks at the front page of a newspaper showing the moment that he was gored by a fighting bull during a traditional bull run in Pamplona, Spain, Friday July 13, 2007. His brother was also gored.Read moreDANIEL OCHOA de OLZA / The Associated Press
    by Akweli Parker, External or Unknown
    Published 

MADRID, Spain—Two American brothers were recovering on Friday from their serious injuries after they were gored during the bloodiest day yet at the San Fermin festival in the northeastern city of Pamplona.

Lawrence Lenahan, 26, of Hermosa Beach, Calif. and his brother, Michael Lenahan, 23, of Philadelphia, Pa. were gored Thursday by a bull who strayed from the pack, turned around half way and charged the wrong way during the daily morning bull run. Thirteen people in total were injured and seven were gored, including the Lenahan brothers and other two men very seriously.

Michael Lenahan, a sales executive for General Mills, was injured shortly before the bull ring—the end point of the daily runs—after the bulls horn entered beneath his skin in his right shin, causing him to recoil back, jaw open. The moment, caught on film, made the front page of several Spanish newspapers.

The older Lenahan suffered a 20-centimeter (eight-inch) goring in the left buttock after a dangerous sharp right turn in the course which he described as a "dead man's curve".

"I remember looking back and thinking I was in trouble," said Lawrence Lenahan, a captain in the Air Force, in a phone interview with The Associated Press from his hospital bed in Pamplona. His brother also remains hospitalized after undergoing surgery.

The pack of six 1,300-pound (590-kilogram) bulls and six steers—intended to keep the bulls running in a single pack—disintegrated shortly after the animals set off on the course through the narrow cobblestone streets of Pamplona.

The run lasted 6 minutes 9 seconds, compared with the usual length of 2 minutes because one bull separated—the most dangerous thing that can happen during the bull run.

The other runners who were gored were from Poland, Norway and Spain, with ages ranging from 23 to 50.

The festival in Pamplona, renowned for its all-night street parties, dates back to 1591. It gained worldwide fame in Ernest Hemingway's 1926 novel "The Sun Also Rises."

Since records began in 1924, 13 people have been killed in the runs. The last fatality, a 22-year-old American, was gored to death in 1995.