NEW YORK — Rex Ryan spent part of his summer vacation running from angry bulls.
The New York Jets coach joined thousands of thrill-seekers on Sunday and Monday in the annual running of the bulls at the San Fermin festival in Pamplona, Spain.
The team confirmed Monday that Ryan was uninjured while participating both days in the run, which is the highlight of a nine-day street festival and is televised nationally. Ryan was there on two mostly uneventful days as there were no gorings, while six people were treated for injuries.
Ben Patton, a contestant on NBC’s matchmaker show “Ready for Love,” tweeted an Instagram photo http://instagram.com/p/bf6Qk0x2t5/# of himself and some friends posing with Ryan in Pamplona. A slim-looking Ryan is wearing white pants, a red T-shirt with a picture of a bull in the middle — with the words “Bad Toro” printed underneath — and a red bandana around his neck.
The sports website Deadspin posted a 17-second video Monday night of what clearly appears to be Ryan climbing a barricade, along with several other participants, moments before a bull charges down the street. It was uncertain if the video was from Ryan’s run on Sunday or Monday.
The race, which lasts just over 2 minutes, takes place early in the morning as participants run with six fighting bulls along a narrow course of about 900 yards. It ends when the bulls have run from a holding pen to a city bull ring.
Ryan isn’t the first football coach to race through the streets of the northern Spanish city. Philadelphia Eagles coach Chip Kelly, then the coach at Oregon, participated in the event last summer, along with wide receivers coach Scott Frost — a former Jets safety.
Ryan and the Jets report for training camp on July 25 in Cortland, N.Y.