I’m looking forward to running the inaugural Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon on Sunday which starts and finishes at Headingley Stadium.
The marathon will be a great legacy for Rob and the courage and bravery shown in the face of his battle with MND. But also his legacy for Kevin (Sinfield) as well, given what he’s put himself through with his running efforts these last three years. The key now is to make sure it’s a success on Sunday, enough money gets raised to get the Rob Burrow Centre for MND funded and then it needs to keep going.
I’m sure it’s going to be an amazing day for people suffering with MND and their families but it’s also great for the city of Leeds and the sport of rugby league; I know a number of players who are doing it. There’s myself, Jamie Jones-Buchanan and Adrian Morley while Luke Burgess - whose dad died from MND - has flown in from Australia to run it as has the ex-Castleford winger Nick Youngquest.
Barrie McDermott’s doing the half-marathon and Kev’s going to be pushing Rob all the way around the full one. Rob’s fight against MND and Kev’s inspirational work to help raise awareness and money has brought the rugby league community together again but also put it in the wider public profile.
I still see Rob as regular as possible. I organised for eight or nine ex-players to go around to his dad Geoff’s house to just chat in and around him. Rob contributes where he can and it’s down to us as players to keep that relationship alive and, when our diaries fit, make sure we have that camaraderie. And reminisce about how good we thought we were at rugby - or not so good in some cases! We had a good old catch-up last month and Rob’s wits are still as sharp as ever. He is just a little bit slower while he uses his machine.
This week’s the best week when it comes to marathon training as you hardly do any running. You can just eat sweets all week! It’s a kind of reward for running 40, 50 or 60 miles per week and being in a fog of tiredness. During the middle of that you feel fit and ready to go and actually feel like running. The most important thing for me now is not only making sure Sunday is brilliant and everyone gets emotionally involved but doing it again the year after and the year after that.
BETFRED - PASSIONATE ABOUT SUPER LEAGUE
