Kevin Sinfield surpasses yet another milestone in fundraising efforts to support Rob Burrow and MND community

Ben Olawumi
Kevin Sinfield, Rob Burrow, MND, 7 in 7 in 7

Kevin Sinfield completes his 7 in 7 in 7 ultramarathon challenge (Main Image); Sinfield runs past the Seacroft Hospital, prospective site of the Rob Burrow Centre for Motor Neurone Disease on day one of the challenge (Circle) - Alamy

Kevin Sinfield has now raised over £8 million to help support Rob Burrow and the MND community with the donations for his latest fundraising effort – 7 in 7 in 7 – surpassing the £1 million mark yesterday.

Sinfield and his team had already completed three gruelling challenges in aid of his long-time pal and former Leeds Rhinos team-mate Burrow, diagnosed with the disease in 2019.

They went even bigger this time around, combining elements from all three of the previous instalments by running seven ultramarathons in seven days across seven different cities in the UK and Ireland.

Starting out at the Rhinos’ Headingley home, they first ran to York Minster. The next six days saw Sinfield and co. putting their running shoes back on in Cardiff, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Dublin, Brighton and then finally London, finishing on The Mall last Thursday – December 7.

Wearing a shirt designed around the city they were running in, each day saw an extra mile tagged onto the end of a marathon distance, that to signify the extra mile people can all go to help their friends in tough times.

The extra mile each day saw invited guests join Sinfield and his team for one mile, with those guests including Kathy Weir, the wife of the late Scottish rugby union great Doddie who lost his life to MND last November.

Kevin Sinfield surpasses yet another milestone in fundraising efforts to support Rob Burrow and MND community as 7 in 7 in 7 challenge hits £1m

As always, Sinfield’s fundraising target was set at £777,777 in honour of Rhinos legend Burrow, who donned the number 7 on the back of his shirt throughout his stellar career.

Come the completion of the week-long effort by Sinfield and his team, the tally was actually a few thousand under that figure, sat at 99%, though with the Gift Aid tagged on, it had been met.

Donations still continue to flood in as this article is being written nine days on however, and yesterday, Leeds posted a screenshot on X of the £1 million mark being surpassed, as below!

£1,019,009.08 is the figure now, with £162,824.36 of Gift Aid also tagged on the end, meaning that for every £1 donated, an additional 25p can be claimed by the charities.

The MND Association will receive 41% of the total amount raised, with Leeds Hospitals Charity also benefitting from the same percentage to help build the Rob Burrow Centre for MND.

Three other MND Charities will receive 6% of the money raised, ensuring that help and support reaches people with MND in other areas. They are:

The Darby Rimmer MND Foundation which funds and assists research into the disease and is creating a network to help provide support for people diagnosed with MND.

Irish MND Association which provides essential care and support for people with MND, their families and carers.

My Name’5 Doddie Foundation which funds research into the causes of MND and potential treatments while also supporting families affected by MND.

If you would like to donate, you can do so HERE or by texting Kevin20 to 70143 to donate £20.

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