Rugby Legend Kevin Sinfield admits latest challenge will be 'tough' without Rob Burrow
Rugby legend and charity fundraiser Kevin Sinfield is about to embark on his fifth marathon challenge - but it will be the first without his best friend and team-mate Rob Burrow to support him.
Burrow played alongside Oldham-born Sinfield for the Leeds Rhinos for 14 years and shared a special friendship, completing many challenges after Burrow's diagnosis with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) in December 2019.
Burrow died in June 2024 at the age of 41 and Sinfield admits it will be "pretty tough" without him, but says "Rob will be with him in spirit."
On Sunday, 1 December, Sinfield will start his latest annual challenge, ‘Running Home for Christmas’ - 7 in 7 in 7 challenge in support of the MND community, setting off from Liverpool.
The 44-year-old has helped raise in excess of £16million in aid of MND and was awarded the Honorary Freeman of Oldham in March 2023 for his "eminent services and inspiring achievements to the borough and its people".
The team-mates spoke about the power of friendship and wrote a book, 'With You Every Step" celebrating their special bond.
Sinfield will run over 50km per day, split into seven kilometre blocks that he must complete within the hour before starting the next block.
Each day will also include an ‘Extra Mile’ event when Sinfield will join members of the MND community in completing four laps of a running track.
Sinfield said: “This was only ever put together because we were doing a little run for our little mate and were trying to raise a little bit of money four years ago.
“I think of Rob a lot and I’ll certainly be thinking of him along the way, share a lot of stories about him, laugh and no doubt he’ll be with us in spirit.”
In December 2023, Sinfield ran seven ultra-marathons in as many days across seven different cities.
His latest week-long challenge begins from Liverpool to Wrexham on Sunday and his journey will take him to Gloucester, Belfast, Glasgow, Hull, Northampton and Manchester over the following seven days.
“Rob’s been a part of the first four challenges. To have him not around this time is pretty tough,” Sinfield said.
“I won’t be getting his text messages on an evening. I’m not quite sure how I’ll be emotionally. I’ll probably find out when we’re in the thick of it and it’s pretty dark out there.
“It means a lot to me that we represent him and his family in the right way. He’ll make me smile I know that.
“I don’t want this to be sad. We’ve lost a great man, but he’ll want us to rip into this and have a smile on our face and do it justice, do him justice.”
In tribute to the number seven Burrow wore on his playing jersey, Sinfield’s ‘7 in 7’ challenges have raised close to £10m and the total fundraising inspired by Burrow has generated a further sum of around £6m.
“They don’t get any easier, they just don’t,” Sinfield said.
“The training has been brutal. I hate running, I don’t even like running and I’m asthmatic, so if you put all that together it’s not a great combination.”
Sinfield hopes to do two more ‘7 in 7’ challenges after this one “given this has all been built around the number seven”.
He added: “The message we’ve been trying to get across over the last few years is you don’t have to run marathons, but we can all do a little bit.
“What that little bit looks like is different for all of us. It doesn’t have to be a little bit for MND, it can be a little bit for cancer, or dementia, or something close to your heart.
“It could be just reaching out to somebody who needs a hand over Christmas. It’s the little bits that matter and if we all do a little bit that adds up to a massive bit.
“I found out after the first challenge, and I don’t mind admitting it, I know why I’m here now. I’m here to try and help and support people in the MND community and to realise that at 40 I think is pretty special.”
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