Six bulls killed on I-15 ride to Mesquite event

In spite of the untimely deaths of six of its prize members earlier in the day, other bulls scheduled to run in Mesquite's annual free-for-all this weekend beefed up their skills during a dress rehearsal Wednesday.

A handful of volunteers and a couple of the bull-fighting rodeo clowns and riders who will participate in the three-day running of the bulls festival did two dry-runs around 5:30 p.m. with nine of the 65 to 75 bulls to be used in the event.

Around 9 a.m. Wednesday, organizers said they lost the best of their bulls when a trailer carrying eight of them from Hooper, Utah, lurched off Interstate 15 a few miles into the southbound trip to Mesquite.

Three of the bulls died on impact, Stephanie Sharpe, event spokeswoman, said. Three others were put to death at the accident scene by Ben German, the Hooper man who owned them. Each of the animals, which were bred and raised to be rodeo bulls, were worth upwards of $10,000, Sharpe said.

"They were the better of the team," she said.

The rest of the bulls were to continue arriving Wednesday and today, coming from various owners from around the West, Phil Immordino, event promoter, said.

The first nine that arrived late Wednesday afternoon were herded into a pen at one end of the fenced-in, quarter-mile route. Volunteer runners were herded a few dozen yards away inside the fence.

Both groups pawed the ground and eyed each other in anticipation.

Eddie Sandoval, a 32-year-old rodeo clown and bull rider from California, adjusted his cowboy hat adorned with rubber bull horns and zipped up his police-style bullet-proof vest.

The horns, Sandoval said, make the bulls think he's one of them. Or they make the bulls mad. He's never sure which.

Other runners, who had been eyeing Sandoval's vest and the thick pads that covered his elbows, knees and shins, suddenly felt under-dressed.

"Heyyyyy. He's wearing a flak-jacket," one of them said.

"Do we just sprint or wait for them?" another asked.

"Oh, WAIT for them!" several spectators said as they balanced video cameras atop the fence.

There isn't much waiting around with some of these animals, said Shane Holt, the contractor and cowboy who assembled the beefy entourage. The big red ones provide imposing presence. But those stodgy black ones are feisty.

And that's when they're in a good mood. These had just emerged from a long ride in a livestock truck.

"They're Mexican fighting bulls. They are fast. They are mean. They are agile, and they're here to have fun," Holt said.

Seconds before Holt's workers opened the gate, "fun" seemed to have drained from a few runners' faces, replaced with something paler and slightly more squeamish.

James Fleck, a 28-year-old Honolulu lawyer, talked his buddy Reid Yamashiro, a 29-year-old Honolulu city attorney, into being on the running side of the fence.

He generously offered to hold Yamashiro's wallet because he knew what was coming next. He has seen the annual running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain.

"I think it's crazy," Fleck said.

When the gate opened, the men bolted. Guys who hadn't run 50 steps in five years found untold levels of agility and speed as the snorting, thundering cloud of hoofs and horns bore down on them.

As the bulls drew near the runners scattered for the nearest fence opening or did a quick upsy-daisy over the top.

Shawn Logan, 26, of Las Vegas, ducked through a hole and narrowly escaped becoming attached to the pointy end of a horn.

"All I could do was hear him coming," a breathless Logan said minutes later. "The adrenalin was amazing."

The festivities open at the Mesquite fairgrounds Friday night with an event that includes bull-riding, a rodeo clown competition and a concert. The actual running will take place three times Saturday and three times Sunday. It costs $75 to run.

For information, call (877) 786-2855.

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