Kevin Sinfield completed his marathon charity run at Headingley Stadium in an emotional finish on Tuesday morning.
The former rugby league player’s Extra Mile Challenge – a 101-mile run from Leicester, where he works as a rugby union coach, to Headingley, where he spent his playing days – was set up to raise money for Leeds Hospital Charity and the Motor Neurone Disease Association.
Sinfield had set out to raise £100,000 for charity in honour of his friend and former teammate Rob Burrow, who is currently battling the disease and was on the pitch at Headingley as Sinfield finished.
By completion of the run, he had raised nearly £600,00 with that figure rising rapidly, and was approaching the million-pound mark by midday on Tuesday.
Sinfield had struggled throughout the night, describing himself as feeling drunk ahead of the final night and, in a tearful finish, struggled to run the final leg joined by Burrow’s wife Lindsey and daughter Macy.
After crossing the line, Sinfield said: “It’s brilliant. To see Rob again and Lindsey and Macy running with us. It’s been a real team effort. So much went on behind the scenes. The support along the route has been incredible right from the start.
“We wanted a battle and we got one, but we got here. We’re broken. I don’t know when I’ll be able to run again. It’s just been completely awesome.”
