Running With the Bulls still a thrill

Times Reporter 

 

Each year Running With the Bulls seems to pull out all sorts of different people: young, old, some costumed and some not. One thing they all have in common is they are a little bit crazy to get in the ring with the angry bulls. Robert Scott was one of those people who got talked into trying it out on Saturday, Aug. 3. He walked away the winner of the $1,000 cash, but the victory didn’t come without mishap.

It started with a friend suggesting that he run with the bulls. At first he was said no, but after watching a 71-year-old man sign up he decided he could do it too. 

“He kind of inspired me to do it,” said Scott. 

“I saw all these young people and they’re all in their crazy outfits and I thought this wasn’t for me, but I do a lot of travelling and I’m one for adventure so I said ah screw it, I’ll go.”

He compared the run to surfing and just going with the wave. When you see the wave behind you you’re running and you see this herd of cattle come up, said Scott, you just kind of go with it. There was one to his left that nudged him and he thought ‘I’m running with the bulls, this is great,’ another nudged him and his next thought was about how he was still up and running. He didn’t see the one behind him. 

“He slammed me, I did a big spin, I got up, I thought it was over and then there was a second one that nailed me here (my right hip) and then snapped my ankle,” said Scott. 

The 40-year-old, who ironically is an instructor at the Taurus Tae-Kwon-Do studio in Calgary, said that the experience was both with it and not. 

“Yes and no that’s the safe answer. Yes because it adds to life, it’s great memories, it’s a great Facebook status update but no because I’m a photographer so I’ve had to cancel two gigs and my hiking season is done, so it’s not worth $1,000 but it has its perks,” said Scott. 

On Sunday, Aug. 4 a Strathmore man, dressed as a giraffe, caught the judges’ attention in all the right ways. Eric Hanson has been Running With the Bulls for three years now. 

“As soon as I heard about it the first time I said I couldn’t wait until I was 18 to get into it,” said the 21-year-old. 

“My adrenaline is just coursing through me, my body is just pumping right now, I can feel every heartbeat that I have going right now, it feels great.”

Hanson is from a farm just outside of town, and he is used to being around bulls. His plan coming in to Sunday’s event was to get in close and pet a bull, which is just what he did. His tips for future participants? “Be brave, get in close there, once you get in close you can keep them going in circles all day if you do it right.”

This year’s two-day event seemed to be a little more dangerous than the past couple of years, with a few of the runners being injured. 

“It always scares me to death when those kids get out there and they get hurt like that. The good thing is we have good paramedics and ambulances on standby, they were on them right away,” said Jim Cammaert, one of the original creators behind the event.  

“I think we transported four in total, three on the Saturday and one on Sunday. I guess that’s what the attraction is, is that people take risks and sometimes you mess with the bull you get the horn, that’s the event.”

A few changes may be coming next year to the popular event. One idea being tossed around is less participants. Cammaert said the event gets cut off at 80 runners and sometimes there are too many people in one place with nowhere to go. They are considering cutting it back to 60 participants. Cammaert said they are reviewing everything for next year’s event and no set changes have been made just yet.