Off to a goring start Pamplona Day 1: 50 wounded

Two Americans were brutally gored Sunday during the opening of Spain’s wild running of the bulls festival — with seven more days to go.

The US citizens were among three people gored and more than 50 injured trying to flee bulls racing through the narrow streets of Pamplona in the first of eight daily runs at this year’s San Fermin festival.

The most seriously injured was an unidentified 46-year old man from San Francisco who was gored in the neck. He’ll need surgery, local officials said.

A 23-year old man from Florence, Ky., was gored in the thigh, as was a 40-yearold Spanish man, the officials said, while two young Spanish men were also taken to a hospital with head injuries.

The local Red Cross said it treated another 48 people for other injuries, including two individuals who were trampled by the full-size bulls.

The festival, immortalized by Ernest Hemingway in his 1926 novel, “The Sun Also Rises,” draws millions to the central Spanish town to watch six bulls tearing 850 yards through narrow, cobblestone streets leading to the packed bullring.

The races start each of eight days in the festival, with the beasts later killed by matadors during bullfights.

At least 16 people have died in the brutal tradition since records began to be kept in 1910.

Photos on Sunday (above) show racers, most sporting red scarfs, getting stampeded by the bulls, with some victims in stretchers after the crazed 3-minute run.