PAMPLONA, Spain – One person was gored as thousands of thrill-seekers tested their bravery and speed Monday by dashing with fighting bulls through the streets of the northern Spanish city of Pamplona.

Jose Aldaba, a spokesman for Spain’s Red Cross, said four people were taken to a city hospital for injuries sustained in the 8.a.m. run, the first of the annual San Fermin festival. One was gored in the thigh.

A statement from the Navarra regional government said the four were Spaniards but none was in serious condition.

The run sees people racing with the bulls along a narrow 930-yard (850-meter) course from a holding pen to the city bull ring.

It lasted just over two minutes.

Dozens of people are injured each year in the “encierros,” as the runs are called in Spanish. Most get hurt in falls.

Fifteen people have died from gorings since record-keeping began in 1924.

The nine-day fiesta was immortalized in Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises” and attracts thousands of foreign tourists.

The bulls, which take part each morning are invariably killed by matadors in evening bull fights, and their meat is served up in Pamplona’s restaurants.