Kevin Sinfield admits there are a “thousand reasons” why he should not be lining up on the start line ahead of his latest inconceivably arduous running challenge, as he aims to complete seven ultra-marathons in seven days across seven cities in the UK and Ireland. But after raising over £8m for Motor Neurone Disease charities, Sinfield remains inspired by his great friend and former Leeds Rhinos teammate Rob Burrow and will set off from Headingley on Friday morning with a renewed sense of urgency. “There is one big reason why we should keep going and that’s Rob,” Sinfield says.
This will be Sinfield’s fourth run for MND - the plan was to only do three. After finishing his previous epic last November, the trilogy was complete, but Sinfield believes there was no other choice but to go again. Physically, his latest round of ultra-marathons is set to be the toughest yet and he will tackle the gruelling and relentless distances despite a lack of preparation time, owing to having only returned from the Rugby World Cup, where he was England’s defence coach, at the start of the month. Sinfield shrugs. “Why would we stop?” he asks. “We haven’t got a cure. We feel we can help some more.”
