About Spyns/Press
Our tours have recently been featured in the Washington Post, NBC, and on national radio programs. Below is a small sample of some recent press coverage.
Hoofing It in Pamplona
By Scott Vogel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 7, 2007; P03
Q. My wife and other family members think I'm crazy, Can you recommend a tour company to arrange this adventure? Tom Stout, Glenwood
A. Ryan King put it better than we ever could: "Men need to get in touch with their inner stupidity." King, who incidentally believes that our "safety-driven culture" has spawned the emergence of "something primal, mostly for men," has been leading tours to Pamplona every July since 2004 (888-825-4720, http://www.spyns.com ). His excursions are a combination of bull-running and bicycling, the latter involving rides through Spain's picturesque and wine-rich Rioja Valley. The tours climax at the Festival of San Fermin, which is held each year on the same days -- July 6-14 -- with the bulls running every morning at 8 starting on the second day. "A lot of people think you have to pay to run, but you don't," he says. "Another misconception is that people should stay at hotels in town." King suggests you hang your hat in Pamplona's outskirts, in part, he says, because brass bands begin waking up the townsfolk at the unseemly hour of 5:30 a.m. "You don't want to have a brass band under your window at that hour." Still, King's charges want to experience those same images of chaos most of us see only on the nightly news, and for that he rents a large wraparound balcony "which overlooks the dangerous 90-degree turn from Calle Mercaderes onto Calle Estafeta." Some end up running; others chicken out ("they suddenly discover they have knee injuries"); but all would agree with you that it's an incomparable sight. "Take the New York CityMarathon," King says, "cram it into an alleyway that's 20 feet wide and then run 12 bulls into it." And let the inner stupidity begin!
"Countown" with Keith Oberman
Click here to watch the video
Or, in our No. 1 story in the COUNTDOWN, we can just stick to the annual Running of the Bulls in Pamplona. The newscast‘s policy has been for the last four years to root for the bulls. See, the human-like bipeds volunteer for this, the bulls who do not get asked, get a few scant minutes to try and poke a few people before they are led to merciless slaughter. Members of our species are often gored, occasionally suffer sever injuries, while every bull always die. And thus, do we root for the bulls.
In a moment, we‘ll be joined by a veteran of the run from Pamplona, but first a recap of day one‘s action. The bulls came out of the gates with a head of steam at the 22nd mark proving the inconvenient truth to mankind, these bulls had gore on their minds and they weren‘t thinking of global warming. At the curve known to the cognoscente as Tenderloin Corner, where the bulls often struggle to pivot on the slick cobblestone, this day was no different. Bipeds and bovine piled up alike, as the huge beasts scrambled to four hooves. It was a clean race after that, the finish line being the famed Plaza de Toros, that were the day‘s most severe injury would occur. A 31-year-old man from New York tossed boy a cow during a mock bullfight, suffering paralysis from the waist down, a sad turn of events, that obviously no one is happy about it. But of course all bulls still wound up going to heaven. On the phone with us from Pamplona Spain, Ryan King who runs a travel company called Spyns, joins us now. He was at day one of the running, didn‘t take part, but has several times in the past and will again later in this session. Mr. King, thank you for your time.
RYAN KING, SPYNS: Thank you for having me. I‘m a great fan of the show.
OLBERMANN: Thank you. I know you didn‘t run on this first day, but based on your past experiences can you give us a word picture? I mean why is this—is this like trying to dodge loose railroad box cars or what is it like?
KING: What I explain to my clients is it‘s like running the New York marathon with cow running through the middle. So, it‘s their decision as to whether they want to run or walk. There is a certain element of danger.
OLBERMANN: I‘ve mentioned this several times. We don‘t necessarily root against the people who do the running, but we root for the bulls here, it seems like the odds are stacked against them. Is there any sympathy for them on the part of the runners or the spectators?
KING: Absolutely. The people who are watching from the stands, from the safety are actually rooting for the bulls, they like it when it gets a little bit exciting, say when one bull turns back, but it is safe. They do quite a lot to prepare the ground so that no one‘s going to slip or fall. They check beforehand, they get any people who are sort of overly intoxicated or running with cameras so they prevent them from running. So, there‘s a safety element to it. But once in the ring, it‘s everyone is rooting completely for the bulls and when the matador is either injured or where there‘s a close call, there‘s yells of ole coming up from everybody.
OLBERMANN: This year we had someone from New Zealand get a goring in the thigh, someone from Pamplona was trampled. In the times you‘ve run, have you ever been injury and what kind of injuries have you seen when you‘ve been out there?
KING: No, none. I mean, you certainly hear—it‘s almost impossible to see anything while you‘re running and so—you can only see two people in front, two people behind, and then all of a sudden there‘s a bull behind you. And so, it‘s difficult to see exactly what‘s going on. And it‘s just you‘re running on pure adrenaline and panic. But, today was one of the busiest days. At the beginning of the festival, there were 3,500 people running on a half mile course that at its widest is about 25 feet. So, you can imagine that injuries that are more or less inevitable and it‘s something that the people from Pamplona expect.
OLBERMANN: Is there an opening day kind of extra quality or quantity to this? Is it like all the wannabes show up today and then the crowd thins out as the thing moves along?
KING: Definitely. As it festival progresses, it gets increasingly more Spanish, so more locals will attend. The first two days, today‘s run and then tomorrow‘s run will be mostly crazy tourists like myself. And I will be running in probably in about three hours from now, I‘ll be getting up to go down and prepare for the run.
OLBERMANN: Of course getting up in the middle of the night to do a phone interview back to the United States is the perfect preparation to put your life on—at risk on the streets of Pamplona.
KING: Well, I will do anything to put my life on the line for the news and for your viewers.
OLBERMANN: That‘s—all right. Explain, finally, this injury that we had, this awful paralyzing of the New Yorker, not in the actual running. Cows in the bullring afterward. Do you know what that was about?
KING: Well, they do this everyday and it‘s called the veania (ph) and they‘ll let one small bull, that‘s about, you know, sort of half the size of the ones that are actually in the run. And it‘s more like a rodeo-type, where people are running around the arena. It‘s supposed to be fun, they file down the horns so that it‘s a little bit less dangerous. And from what I understand, and this is sort of unconfirmed, is that it was just a freak accident where the bull reared it its head and then tossed this man and unfortunately he‘s to have sustained pretty serious injuries. And everyone on this side is definitely have thoughts go out to both him and his family.
OLBERMANN: Indeed. The fall will get you if the bull does not. Ryan King, connoisseur of the Running of the Bulls at Pamplona, joining us by phone from that fabled town. Good luck.
KING: Thank you.
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