Running of the bulls 500 runners through the actual Pamplona route. The Big Easy Rollergirls roller derby team has performed an annual mock bull run in New Orleans, Louisiana since 2007. The team, dressed as bulls, skates after runners through the French Quarter. In 2012, there were 14,000 runners and over 400 "bulls" from all over the country, with huge before- and after-parties. In Ballyjamesduff, Ireland, an annual event called the Pig Run is held with small pigs. It looks just like a mini- but with pigs instead of bulls. In Dewey Beach, Delaware, a bar named The Starboard sponsors an annual Running of
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