Former England rugby league captain raises £1.15m for MND charities
Former rugby league star Kevin Sinfield has completed his 7 in 7: Together challenge, raising £1.15m for MND charities in memory of team-mate Rob Burrow.
The former Leeds Rhinos and England rugby league captain arrived at AMT Headingley Stadium after running from York on the final leg of the venture, taking his total raised for MND causes to over £11m.
Sinfield, who also joined a Santa Dash in Leeds on Sunday, ran seven ultramarathons of at least 28 miles, around 185 miles in total, over seven days across the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
It was Sinfield’s sixth endurance challenge, inspired by his former Rhinos team-mate Rob Burrow, who was diagnosed with MND in 2019 and died in 2024 after four and a half years with the condition.
Sinfield addressed the crowd after arriving at Headingley, his home ground throughout a career that included seven Super League titles.
He said: “To the MND community and the people we’ve met en route, all through the last week, all through the past five years, to everybody we’ve met – you’re an absolutely beautiful community.
“We’ve got to keep fighting for the MND community.”
Sinfield, 45, had initially set a fundraising target of £777,777 in tribute to Burrow’s shirt number seven, but has exceeded that.
The opening day began in East Anglia on Monday; day two took place around Cork in Ireland; day three was in Swansea; and on Thursday Sinfield and his team started out from Bramall Lane in Sheffield.
On Friday, England head coach Steve Borthwick, born in Carlisle, accompanied Sinfield for one of the legs.
On Saturday he headed to Scotland and ran from Carnoustie Golf Club into Dundee, finishing his penultimate leg at Dundee FC’s Dens Park before kick-off of their Scottish Premiership game.
His final leg saw him joined by Jonny Brownlee, the six-time world champion triathlete, and Josh Warrington, a two-time featherweight world champion, and he had to wade through flood water on the way to AMT Headingley Stadium.
