Kevin Sinfield sets off on 101-mile, 24-hour charity run from Leicester to Leeds

Former Leeds captain Kevin Sinfield set off on his latest remarkable fundraising challenge with good-luck messages from the world of sport and with his stricken friend Rob Burrow as his inspiration.

The rugby league international, who is now defence coach at rugby union club Leicester, is running the 101 miles from the Tigers’ Welford Road ground to Headingley in 24 hours.

The journey, which is being be split into seven kilometre segments, was originally planned to cover 100 miles but the actual distance is 101 with Sinfield once again proving he will always go the extra mile for Burrow, who was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in December 2019.

Money raised from the run will be divided between the MND Association and the Leeds Hospitals Charity appeal to build a new care centre in Leeds that will bear the name of the former Great Britain number seven.

Sinfield was given a send-off by the Coldstream Guards and received good-luck messages from Alan Shearer, Ian Wright and Mo Farah as well as Burrow, who aims to be at the finishing line on Tuesday.

The 41-year-old Sinfield is in regular contact with his old team-mate and admits he will be in his thoughts throughout the run.

“That’s what teams do, we stick together,” he said. “We still look after each other, that’s the great thing about rugby.

“I’ve said it before, when someone is in a bit of bother, a bit of strife, the Batman sign goes up and the group will come, that’s probably the strength of that group of players.

“That’s rugby, isn’t it? Perhaps not all teams have it but ours did.”

Kevin Sinfield – The Extra Mile Challenge – Leicester to Leeds
Kevin Sinfield (right) during the first stop in the Extra Mile Challenge (Zac Goodwin/PA)

In December 2020, Sinfield led a team that raised over £2.7million by running seven marathons in seven days and has already smashed through his initial target of £100,000 for his latest challenge.

As Sinfield set off on his second leg, his giveasyoulive page reached just short of £200,000 and he insists that, despite a lack of sleep, he will complete the challenge.

“I’m prepared to keep going,” he said. “I don’t know how long my knees will hold up, but he’s a mate and he’d do it for me.”

For all the latest Sports News Click Here 

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! TechAI is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.