Rugby player announces new challenge for MND

A former England rugby league star has announced he will take on another seven ultra-marathons over seven days, in honour of his late teammate Rob Burrow.

Kevin Sinfield, 44, said he and his team will begin this year's challenge - which takes place across the UK and Ireland - on 1 December, raising money and awareness for motor neurone disease (MND).

This year he hopes to raise £777,777 - to add to funds of more than £10m raised since he began running marathons in 2020, following his friend's diagnosis in 2019.

Mr Sinfield said he was excited to take on another challenge, adding it "feels like a form of therapy at times" - particularly last year following Rob Burrow's death, at the age of 41.

He told BBC Breakfast: "The five challenges we've done so far have been really tough and challenging, but the people we've met so far, they've all been amazing - so it's important we keep Rob's legacy going and get the other two done.

"Hearing people's stories along the way is a massive energy-giver, as there's some dark moments on the road [when] it's dark and wet and cold, and your body is telling you to give up.

"But you take all that energy and emotion on the road and use it as fuel. We share our stories with each other every night, about what's gone on during the day, so it is really powerful."

The team will start in Bury St Edmunds before travelling to Ipswich, Cork, Swansea, Sheffield, Workington, Whitehaven, Dundee, and North Yorkshire, arriving in Leeds on 7 December.

The money raised will be split between the MND Association, the Leeds Hospital Charity, Irish MND Association, the My Name'5 Doddie Foundation, MND Scotland and The Darby Rimmer Foundation.

While in Cork, the team will pause to remember former Warrington Rugby League player and Munster Rugby Union coach Paul Darbyshire, who died in 2011 from MND.

"The challenge is good for me," Mr Sinfield said, adding: "It's almost like a form of therapy at times, and has given us something to really go after.

"We can't just expect to rock up on the 1st December and expect it to happen, so there's 10-12 weeks before where we put a lot of time and effort in, and that involves putting yourself in a dark place - the training is the difficult bit.

"I don't like being in the dark spot but I enjoy coming through it... knowing I've been in there."

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