Locals To Get Their Chance To Run With The Bulls Next Summer

By Molly Daly

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - An event catering to American thrill-seekers who'd dreamed of running with the bulls in Pamplona was held in Virginia on Saturday. Locals will get their chance when the Great Bull Run visits Maple Grove Raceway in Berks County next June.

If you've always wanted to be trampled or risk blunt-force trauma, this event's for you. Participants shell out between $35 and $65 to run a quarter-mile course with a herd of bulls in hot pursuit. Co-owner Rob Dickens says that's a bargain compared with the real thing in Spain.

"It costs about $3,000 per person with your flights and hotels for 7 or 8 days in Pamplona during the busiest time of the year."

Instead of the bullfighting ring, these bovines come from the rodeo, so they're used to dealing with clowns. Dickens says there's another difference.

"What they do in Spain before the bullfights and before the run is that they sharpen those horns. We do not do that, so it's actually very hard to gore somebody. Our bulls' horns are about as sharp as a fist."

Dickens says the thrill-seekers aren't just young guys.

"You would be surprised. If you take a look at the photo album, you'll see people who are in the 60s, in their 50s, in their 40s -- 40 percent women."

Some of whom came away from Saturday's event wanting more.

"(They say) we want more bulls, we want bigger bulls, we want to get tossed in the air and run over."

That's where Dickens's background comes in handy.

"I used to be an attorney on Wall Street. I know a lot about liability and a lot about contracts, so I personally drafted the waiver that everyone has to sign at our events."

If the bull run is too risky for your taste, there's always the Tomato Royale, a massive food fight that lets you pelt your friends and total strangers with love apples.

Find out more at TheGreatBullRun.com.