Running of the Nudes same route taken by the Running of the Bulls, from the Santo Domingo corrals through the town’s streets, ending at the Plaza de Toros. The length of the run is some 800 metres (about half a mile) and the event takes about one hour. In 2002, approximately 25 naked streakers ran through Pamplona's winding streets to promote an alternative to the Running of the Bulls. Subsequent events saw a steady increase in the numbers of runners with an estimated 1000 nude or semi-nude runners taking part in the event in 2006. Animal welfare groups across Europe and in North America
San Fermín and a different "encaste" (sub-breed) of bull appears each day. The event begins at 8 a.m. when a first firecracker is lit to announce the release of the bulls from their corral. Before the year 1924 it started at 6 and at 7 between 1924 and 1974. Runners gather earlier at the beginning of the itinerary to ask for the protection of the Saint by singing a chant three times before a small statue of San Fermín which has been placed in a raised niche in a wall: “"To San Fermin we ask to be our patron saint and to