Battle of Bull Run : Low Turnout Helps Turn Tecate Tame; Protesters Pleased

A tamer-than-usual running of the bulls was staged down the main street of Tecate, Mexico, on Saturday, but officials there were bracing for larger and more rambunctious crowds today for the second half of the annual show of bravado.

Officials said there were no serious injuries to either the 15 bulls or the several hundred participants who danced around, jumped away from, ran in front of or pulled on the tails of the animals as they plodded a quarter-mile down Juarez Avenue.

Some observers characterized Saturday’s run as lackadaisical; the first of three runs was nearly an hour late and there was no fanfare in advance of the bulls’ appearance.

Victor Eduardo Penalosa, president of the Tecatea Tourism Bureau, said he was disappointed by Saturday’s turnout, estimated at fewer than 4,000 people, but he held out hope that more than 15,000 would attend today’s running.

In past years, more than 20,000 persons have turned up for the affair, a bittersweet event for Tecate businessmen who enjoy the tourists’ dollars but resent the damage left in its wake.

Partly for that reason, the run was moved away from the downtown area. Penalosa said that relocation, coupled with rumors that the run had been

altogether canceled and the fact that the run was held in August instead of the more traditional September date, may have contributed to the relatively small turnout.

As they have in the past, animal rights activists protested the event with banners and signs at the border crossing leading into Tecate.

Barbara Caliri, spokesman for the San Diego chapter of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said she was heartened by the low turnout.

“It makes us feel good. I hope the attendance was down for the right reasons--that people who have seen it in past years don’t want anything more to do with it and stay away,” she said.

Tecate officials said they went to extra lengths on Saturday to reduce the potential of injuries--both to the bulls and participants--which has marred the event in past years.

The run was staged on a dirt, instead of asphalt, stretch of the street to reduce injuries to participants who might be caught and tossed by the bulls. The strategy apparently worked; though a number of persons were caught and tossed by the bulls, none apparently suffered serious injuries other than to their pride, officials reported.

In addition, Tecate officials instructed participants to register beforehand and pay a $7 fee to race the bulls, in an effort to filter out those participants challenging the bulls from a less than sober standpoint. That ploy apparently also helped, but some people jumped the metal fence and joined in on the two-minute run once it was under way.

And larger bulls were run this year, in response to past years when calves were put on the street and manhandled.

Also, beer was dispensed in paper cups to reduce the risk of flying objects hitting participants or bulls, but cans still flew through the air.

Promoters had stocked up 40,000 cans of beer for sale over the weekend, and said that on Saturday, only about 10% had been sold.

The so-called Pamplonada is patterned after a 400-year-old tradition in Pamplona, Spain.

Miguel Cervantes contributed to this story.