Kevin Sinfield hails warm North East welcome as epic challenge reaches Wearside

Kevin Sinfield has hailed the warmth of the people of the North East as his epic running challenge brought him across Tyneside and onto Wearside.

The Leeds Rhinos legend battled the rain on day three of his ultramarathon challenge - which will see him complete a distance of forty miles every day over the space of a week.

The effort is all in a bid to raise money for research into motor neurone disease (MND) in support of his former teammate Rob Burrow, who is living with the condition.

Starting before dawn in Otterburn, Northumberland, Kevin and his team took on their third consecutive marathon having crossed the Scottish border the previous day.

It included a stop-off at Kingston Park, a ground where fellow MND campaigner and former Newcastle Falcons lock Doddie Weir played his trade.

While there, he got the opportunity to meet local people living with MND.

One of them, Ian Donaldson, said: "This guy's a legend. He's took all this on on his own back. He's done it for us, basically. To be honest, he's my hero."

The group continued on to St James' Park, where they met North East athletics legend Brendan Foster and saw the Rugby League World Cup trophies.

They then headed south, crossing the Tyne Bridge and passing the Angel of the North on their way to Chester-le-Street, where they stopped for the night to prepare to do it all again tomorrow.

Kevin Sinfield said: "There's been some wonderful people today out and about, who've come out and stood in the rain for us and given us a massive boost.

"Everyone's in decent spirits, so it's been great. To visit Kingston Park was pretty special cos obviously it's where Doddie used to play."

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