‘To have him not around this time is pretty tough’: Kevin Sinfield set to embark on latest MND charity run - the first since the death of former Leeds Rhinos teammate Rob Burrow

Rob sadly passed away in June after being diagnosed with the disease in 2019 - with Kevin fundraising for MND charities ever since with annual running challenges.

This year’s week-long challenge - Kevin’s fifth and first since Rob’s death - will see him run over 50km per day, split into 7km blocks that he must complete within the hour before starting the next block.

Each day will also include an ‘Extra Mile’ event where he will join members of the MND community in completing four laps of a running track.

Asked if this year’s event - called Running Home For Christmas - would mean a bit more to him, Kevin replied:

“Not sure, if I’m honest. They’ve all meant a lot to me. Rob’s been a part of the first four. To have him not around this time is pretty tough. I won’t be getting his text messages on an evening.

“I am not quite sure how I will be emotionally. I will probably find out more when we are in the thick of it and it’s pretty dark out there.

“But it certainly means a lot to me. It means a lot that we represent him in the right way, we represent his family in the right way and I have no doubt that he will be with us in spirit.

“He will make me smile. I don’t want this to be sad. Clearly there are some sad parts in it. We have lost him and we have lost a great man. But he wouldn’t want us to be dwelling on this.

“He’d want us to rip into this and have a smile on our face and try and do it justice, and do him justice, which is what we intend to do.”

He added: “The fact that we run with the number seven on our vests again is vitally important. This was only ever put together because we were doing a little run for our little mate trying to raise a bit of money four years ago.

“I’ll never go away from why it was set up and why we did what we did at the start. That is still right at the heart of what we do now.

“I think of Rob a lot and I’ll certainly think of him most steps of the way along this route. We will share a lot of stories about him, we will laugh about him and I have no doubt that he will be with us in spirit.”

Kevin and his team will be visiting seven regions across Great Britain and Northern Ireland, starting in Merseyside on Sunday (December 1) where they will be running from Liverpool to Wrexham.

And Kevin hopes the nature of the event will allow more interactions with the MND community.

He said: “We will be moving around and shifting locations to spread awareness and to show the MND community how much we care about them. There are no boundaries with MND, it is everywhere.

“We wanted something that allowed us more opportunities to meet with people from the MND community and people who want to support this community. We want to show people just how special the MND community is.

“We feel we have got a good vehicle now for raising money and awareness. Whatever is left of that 60 minutes we will have our recovery time and refreshments and meet people from the MND community.”

Giving an indication of what to expect over the seven-day event, which ends with a run from Old Trafford, where Kevin and Rob shared so many victorious memories with the Rhinos, to Kevin’s hometown Saddleworth on Saturday, December 7, he said:

“My expectations are that it will be the toughest one yet. The team will have to draw on every ounce of support that we get and use that in the right way to fuel us.

“Right at the forefront of that will be the Burrow family and Rob.”

The 7 in 7 in 7 challenge also sees Sinfield run from Gloucester to Bristol (day 2); head to Belfast (day 3) and Glasgow (day 4); run from Beverley to Hull (day 5); and run from Northampton to Leicester on the penultimate day (day 6).

For further details on Kevin Sinfield’s Running Home For Christmas 7 in 7 in 7 Challenge, visit: https://www.therhinos.co.uk/the-club/sinfield-christmas-2024