WHERE DO I GO IF I WANT TO RUN ?

Well for a start you don’t just turn up at five minutes to eight in the morning and expect a helpful policeman to point you the way. You can only enter the course through an official entry point (a temporary break in the barriers where the runners are allowed to enter the course). These are towards the beginning of the course.

Since you will have followed my advice and will have talked and walked the course previously with someone who has run before you will already know the location of these entry points. Don’t just try to climb over the fence at any old point because the police will shove their batons up ‘where the sun don’t shine’ as you try to climb over. The run can only take place in ‘reasonable safety’ if lots of the "I’ve just had six pints and I’m still awake I’ll think I’ll have a go" type runners, don’t actually make it to where the action happens. Therefore the police will clear lots of these ‘novices’ off the course at the beginning, if you find you are part of the crowd that the police are pushing off the course then just go with the flow, and run the next day.

As to the matter of running when you are drunk, this is a matter of some debate. To be realistic you are going to be drunk most of the time you are in Pamplona, so it is more a question of degrees. If you are so drunk that you are a danger to yourself and more importantly other runners then no way should you have a go. Hopefully even if you still have a lot of booze inside you, the fear and adrenaline will sober you up fast. If you are really serious about having a good run and you have travelled hundred of miles to do so, then staying off the booze for a few hours should be no great hardship.