The sound of the charging bulls came closer, and a local judge readied his next move.
Peter Nugent, the Johnson County Superior Court 2 judge, had been waiting for this moment for over a year. Instead of donning black judicial robes, he was wearing white clothes with a red sash around his waist and a red handkerchief around his neck.
Crowds of people began to run by as the Pamplona Bull Run started, and Nugent knew he needed to outrun the bulls and avoid getting knocked down by the people around him.
That’s exactly what he did.
Nugent, along with his friends Tom Collignon and Dave Taylor, took part in the San Fermin Festival’s Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain, earlier this month. The annual nine-day festival took place from July 7 to 14, attracting thousands of visitors from across the world. The festival kicks off with the firing of El Chupinazo, a rocket, in Pamplona’s town square, followed by a carnival, fireworks, the Running of the Bulls and a multitude of bullfights.
Nugent and Collignon, along with their wives, arrived in Pamplona on July 11 and 12, taking part in the bull run on July 12. Taylor arrived around the same time, they said.
Participating in the Pamplona Bull Run is something Nugent has always wanted to do.
“It was a rush,” Nugent recalled in his office at the Johnson County Courthouse North Annex Tuesday in Franklin.
The trip to Spain had been planned for more than a year. Nugent first reached out to Collignon, an attorney and a registered civil mediator with The Mediation Group, about doing it last year, as he knew his friend was into adventuring. However, Collignon had a conflict with doing it in the summer of 2022. So, with the help of their wives, they began planning the trip for July 2023.
Fast forward to this past January, and that’s when Taylor got involved. Nugent was swearing in Taylor, who is the elected constable for Perry Township in Marion County, when he mentioned the trip. Taylor had always wanted to take part in the festival, and after discussing it with his wife, ended up booking a trip to join them.
The week of July 14, the three arrived in town for the San Fermin Festival with members of their families. Taylor had some travel difficulties and ended up running separately, but was still able to meet up with Nugent and Collignon, he said.
Festival tradition dictates that everyone wears white, with a red sash around their waist and a red handkerchief — regardless of whether they are taking part in the bull run or not, Collignon said.
There is no sign-up for the Running of the Bulls, so taking part is fairly easy. It starts at 8 a.m. sharp, so people have to get there a little bit before and pick out their spot — much like a parade, Nugent said.
The roughly 2,871-feet bull run is broken up into four parts, starting on a slopping street hemmed between ancient stone walls. From there, the route gets flatter and wider before becoming more perilous at “Dead Man’s Corner” — a sharp bend where getting caught between animal and wall could lead to serious injury or death. After the bend, the route straightens out again leading into the Plaza de Toros, or bull ring.
Police prevent people from going farther down the path at first, but after about 30 to 40 minutes, officers let runners go farther down the route. Officers hold a line to make sure no one is underage or drunk when taking part, along with making sure people don’t have things like hats or Go-Pros. Items like these could fall and cause both bulls and people to trip, Nugent said.
Nugent and Collignon positioned themselves about halfway down the route. Once a cannon went off, the bull run officially began and the pair had one thing in mind: they wanted to get around the curve before the bulls came by.
People began to frantically run by the two men, meaning the bulls were closing in.
“You can tell when the bulls are getting closer because you can see it in the eyes of the people,” Collignon said. “They start kind of bouncing and hopping and getting ready to run themselves.”
Once Nugent and Collignon began to run, they had to dodge other people along the way.
“You’re feeling like a football running back trying to avoid people,” Nugent said.
Nugent was up near the sidewalk and could tell that people were coming. Two guys ran into him and then he could see the bulls — and a large line of people.
“Here come the bulls and there’s just a line of people,” he said. “I got up on the sidewalk because I did not want to get diverted into them because that would have been a problem.”
Following the crowd and the path, the pair ran down the streets of Pamplona and into the bull-ring at the end of the route. Once inside, Nugent and Collignon began to celebrate.
This was when a bull came out and began to run inside the bull ring filled with thousands of participants and spectators.
Collignon said he had expected to this happen. Nugent, on the other hand, was caught off guard.
“Tom knew that was happening. I didn’t,” Nugent said. “You hear him come out and you’re thinking, ‘Oh, God, what’s this?’”
Everyone in the bull ring began running around trying to avoid the bull. Some people tried to irritate the bull and get in their face, Nugent said.
But the men moved to the side, staying out of the middle where all the action was, they said.
Nugent wasn’t worried about getting hurt during the bull run. It’s pretty easy to stay safe as long as you’re smart, he said.
“We didn’t have death wishes. We weren’t trying to do anything heroic,” Nugent said. “We just wanted to do this because enough people had done it. It looked like it was something that was fun. It’s an adventure but a safe adventure.”
The biggest concern had to do with other people getting in the way of the bulls, along with getting pushed to ground the by others in the crowd, he said.
“I was more concerned about getting clipped by a person than the animals,” he said. “If there were 10 of us running, that’s one thing but there were 3,000 people.”
Collignon did have some qualms about the bull run at first, but he ended up having a blast. It was awesome, he said.
“There’s apprehension, but I wasn’t really scared. It’s just the anticipation of it all,” Collignon said.
Taylor had watched YouTube videos beforehand to prepare himself. While he had anxiety when he first ran, once he did it, it wasn’t that bad, he said.
“I felt like I was pretty prepared on what to expect. … I’m familiar with the culture, so nothing with the culture surprised me,” Taylor said.
Everyone was also able to enjoy other aspects of the festival, including music and food. People went out of their way to be helpful and nice during the trip, they said.
Collignon has one slight regret about the trip: he wishes he would’ve been more brave in the bull ring.
“I kind of regret not being a little more brave and going out there and challenging myself a little bit more, but that’s easy to say now while I’m on my couch,” he said.
Nugent, Collignon and Taylor all said they’d love to do it again and hope to convince their children to come with them the next time.
If someone is interested in doing the bull run, Nugent says they should go ahead and do it. They shouldn’t wait, he said.
“It was fun. There’s a small danger factor, but the exhilaration way outweighs the risk,” he said.
