Rob Burrow’s spirit inspires Kevin Sinfield’s marathon mission

WHEN Leeds Rhinos legend Kevin Sinfield starts his epic marathon challenge next week, he fully realises there will be dark times ahead - but Rob Burrow’s “sparkle” will see him through it all.
Leeds Rhinos director of rugby Kevin Sinfield plans to runs seven marathons in seven days next week. Picture: Bruce Rollinson/JPIMedia.Leeds Rhinos director of rugby Kevin Sinfield plans to runs seven marathons in seven days next week. Picture: Bruce Rollinson/JPIMedia.
Leeds Rhinos director of rugby Kevin Sinfield plans to runs seven marathons in seven days next week. Picture: Bruce Rollinson/JPIMedia.

The ex-Rhinos and England captain is aiming to run seven marathons in seven days from December 1 (Tuesday) - each in under four hours - to raise funds and awareness for his former Leeds team-mate Burrow and the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

Burrow, who won seven Super League Grand Finals alongside Sinfield as part of their Golden Generation, was diagnosed with the debilitating, fatal disease 12 months ago.

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Although the 38-year-old’s health has deteriorated since and he is now largely using a wheelchair and a voice recording device to speak, he has lost none of his spirit and humour.

Leeds Rhinos legend Rob Burrow has retained his spirit and sparkle in spite of his illness. Picture: Burrow Seven Racing Club/SWNS.Leeds Rhinos legend Rob Burrow has retained his spirit and sparkle in spite of his illness. Picture: Burrow Seven Racing Club/SWNS.
Leeds Rhinos legend Rob Burrow has retained his spirit and sparkle in spite of his illness. Picture: Burrow Seven Racing Club/SWNS.

As Sinfield embarks on a week of consecutive 26.2 mile runs around Saddleworth, Oldham and Leeds, that will remain close to him.

“When it gets a bit dark and you question what on earth you’re doing I will try to remember the good times and funny moments Rob brought us and has shared with us all,” he said.

“He’s been brilliant. He’s been so overwhelmed by the support from everybody and close to home [wife] Lindsey has done a number of different things to try and raise awareness.

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“A number of family members have as well and the next layer out are the people he has played with for all those years.

Fund-raising 'ring leader' Kylie Leuluai. Picture: Tony Johnson/JPIMedia.Fund-raising 'ring leader' Kylie Leuluai. Picture: Tony Johnson/JPIMedia.
Fund-raising 'ring leader' Kylie Leuluai. Picture: Tony Johnson/JPIMedia.

“When you look at what Barrie [McDermott] has done, Keith [Senior]and JP [Jamie Peacock]. Although Kylie [Leuluai] has perhaps not done many challenges he’s certainly been the ring-leader pulling people together. Danny Mags, Chev Walker, Ryan Bailey, Brett Delaney - all that close group of friends - have stood tall for Rob.

“We have had a bit of a joke about it as obviously the ‘seven in seven’ is all around Rob’s squad number and I am pretty glad he didn’t have one somewhere in the 20s.

“But I have made that point to him. He kept saying he’d do stuff for me and I absolutely know he would. But when I saw him two weeks ago I did say would you have done 13 in 13 for me?

“I never got an answer - but he did start laughing!”

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Asked how Burrow is faring at the moment, Sinfield said: “You all saw the Super League awards on Monday [when Burrow was awarded the Spirit of Super League Award with Hull KR’s Mose Masoe].

“They were filmed last week. I got about 20 minutes with him and I saw him the week before and had a good hour with him.

“He’s fighting as you knew he would. Clearly some things have stopped working and aren’t working as they should do. He’s using his voice player a lot more now but he’s hanging in there.

“He’s doing his best. The great thing is every time I see him he makes me laugh. He still has that spirit and sparkle in his eye. Whether it’s a daft message he fires out to us or we try to remember good times together, his spirit is there, absolutely.”

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In terms of how to prepare for a challenge of this magnitude, Sinfield admitted: “I’m not quite sure. I feel like I’ve winged it a bit to be fair!

“I’ve spent 20 years as a player being told what to do. In terms of training I’ve tried to research as much as I could just to understand it. I’ve ended up running a number of marathons this year.

“As soon as I started pursuing this, reading up on it it came back that I needed to do three in three as a training run which I did at the end of October and start of November. They say the fifth one will be the hardest so we’ll see.”

When Sinfield retired from playing, he decided to run two marathons per year and completed that in 2017, 2018 and again last year.

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In 2020, the 40-year-old has completed six so this next seven will take him to that “magic” number of 13.

It will be a mammoth endurance challenge over the next week but Sinfield is ready to embrace it as that fabled squad’s togetherness shines through again. He added: “I was Rob’s captain for 13 years and you spend all those years trying to do what’s best for the team.

“Just because you’ve finished playing it doesn’t mean it stops there.

“When someone in that group falls on hard times and needs a hand, I’ll be at the forefront with the rest who absolutely think the world of him.”

Donations can be made at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/sinfield-7-in-7

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