Sir Kevin Sinfield was joined by former England manager Sir Gareth Southgate along the first stage of his final running endurance event to raise money for motor neurone disease charities, with more than £500,000 pledged so far.
Inspired by former Leeds Rhinos team-mate Rob Burrow, who died in 2024 after living with MND for four and a half years, Sinfield and his team have raised more than £11 million for the MND community since his first annual challenge in 2020.
Sinfield is completing an ultra marathon every day for seven days in his ‘7 in 7: The Grand Finale’ venture.
Six charities are set to benefit once again from this year’s fundraising – the MND Association, Leeds Hospitals Charity, My Name5 Doddie Foundation, Darby Rimmer Foundation, MND Scotland and the Irish MND Association.
Each ultra marathon is split into seven kilometre blocks, which must be completed within the hour before starting the next. There will also be an ‘extra mile’ event every day, when Sinfield joins members of the MND community in completing four laps of a running track.
The home grounds of the 12 English Betfred Super League clubs will be visited, before finishing on the pitch at Old Trafford ahead of the Super League Grand Final, where his son Jack will play for Wakefield against Warrington.
Sinfield set off on Sunday morning from Hull KR’s Craven Park before heading across the city to the MKM Stadium, the home of Hull FC, and out to Market Weighton, with the first day’s event finishing in Shiptonthorpe.
Former England boss Southgate also joined Sinfield’s team during the run towards the finish.
After Sinfield had completed his first ultra marathon of the event, the fundraising tally around 1700 on Sunday stood at just over £500,800 – well on the way to reaching the £777,777 target.
Sinfield reflected on a “really special day” when he spoke to the crowd gathered outside Shiptonthorpe Village Hall, and thanked everyone for their continued support.
Day 1 done, Hull and East Yorkshire you did us proud
Donate https://t.co/2EoEj3nxvt pic.twitter.com/D0zFdd6XD4
— Leeds Rhinos (@leedsrhinos) September 27, 2026
“We can’t do it on our own, and you just being here today makes it all worthwhile,” Sinfield said in a video published on Leeds Rhinos’ X account.
“We all lose people we love and care about, but we lose people in the MND community too soon – we have got to start to change that.
“That is what our team is trying to do, alongside people like Sir Gareth and others who will join up this week, trying to raise awareness and funds.”
Monday’s leg will head on to York and the LNER Community Stadium, the home of the Knights, as well as York Minster and York racecourse, with the finish at Bishopthorpe Palace, the official residence of the Archbishop of York.
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