Rob Burrow's legacy lives on with Kevin Sinfield's efforts for MND community this week

Rob Burrow's legacy, including the awareness he raised of motor neurone disease, is continuing this week with his friend Kevin Sinfield and others again running in fund-raising marathons.

Former Leeds Rhinos player Burrow sadly passed away this year, aged 41, after being diagnosed with MND in late 2019. The condition affects the brain and nerves and gets worse over time with symptoms including affected speech and movement.

Burrow, survived by his wife, Lindsey, and three children, worked hard to raise awareness and fund-raise with his former Leeds team-mate Sinfield, who is carrying that on this week in his week-long challenge, involving seven ultra marathons spread across seven days.

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Last year, Sinfield stopped short of the finish line at the inaugural Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon to carry his friend over the line, leading to an iconic moment. Sinfield had earlier pushed Burrow around the course in a specially-adapted wheelchair.

Asked if he thought it would have the impact that it has, Sinfield said: "No, we certainly didn't. Everything about the Rob Burrow Leeds marathon has been built around friendship. You are not going to go to Leeds and run a PB because there's a massive hill in there. Everything about it was about friendship, doing something for a mate and looking after each other and caring. There is no other marathon in the world that has that strap line. There is no other marathon across the UK that want people to come and run and share with everybody who is taking part and just have a community spirit about why we are there. To have a finish like that was clearly special for Rob and I but it embodied what that marathon was about and will always be about - it is about friendship."

Discussing the running challenges, inspired by Burrow, which continue this week up to Saturday, he said: "The greatest thing we have taken so far from the challenges is connecting with the MND community. I hope we get lots and lots of opportunities to do that this time.

"The fact that we run with the number seven on our running vest is vitally important. This was only ever put together because we were doing a little run for our little mate and we were trying to raise a little bit of money. This has obviously changed since then but I'll never go away from why it was set up and why we did what we did at the start, and that's still right at the heart of what we do now. I think of Rob a lot and I certainly think of him most steps of the way along this route. We'll share a lot of stories about him, we'll laugh about him and I've no doubt he'll be with us in spirit"

Asked if it had opened his eyes to how big an issue MND is across the country, he replied: "Yeah, absolutely. And more so than ever. More people have been diagnosed than there have ever been. With the awareness, people are going to the doctors, which is fantastic. But that means there are more families having to go through what the Burrows go through. And numerous other families have done for decades and decades. So we've got to keep trying to help.

"And if you look at the funding from the government, which is so important, that's purely for research. So who looks after the human side, who looks after things that people really need like the care and support and love and respect? Even if we found a cure tomorrow there'd be people who are too far down the journey that won't be able to be reversed. We've got to make sure that we keep looking after everybody."

Burrow had been part of the first four of Sinfield's challenges. This is the first time that Burrow has not been with him.

Sinfield said: "Rob has been a part of the first four. To have him not around this time is pretty tough. It certainly means a lot to me to represent him in the right way, represent his family in the right way and I've no doubt he's with us in spirit.

"We've lost a great man but he wouldn't want us to be dwelling on this, he'd want us to rip in and have a smile on our faces and try to do it justice.

"I miss him every day but he'd want us to continue this fight and it's important we do."

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