Kevin Sinfield completed the first of seven marathons in seven days on Tuesday and admitted his astonishment that his fundraising target in support of former Leeds team-mate Rob Burrow has already been exceeded.
The Leeds director of rugby had hoped to raise £77,777 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association following Burrow's MND diagnosis 12 months ago but the total was already closing in on £100,000 by lunchtime on Tuesday.
Seven is Burrow's old shirt number and Sinfield, who is setting off each day at 7am and aiming to finish by 11am, recorded a time of three hours and 40 minutes on his first outing.
🏃After completing the first of his 7⃣ marathons in 7⃣ days, Kevin Sinfield MBE thanked everyone for their support and donations for @mndassoc. 👏 Watch➡️https://t.co/CkpqVuGbOWDonate ➡️ https://t.co/CkpqVuGbOWText 📲 MNDROB to 70085 to donate £7#RunKevRun #OneRobBurrow 💙💛 pic.twitter.com/Osg1ojAtdi — Leeds Rhinos (@leedsrhinos) December 1, 2020
After being informed that his JustGiving page had exceeded his expectations, Sinfield said in a video on the Leeds Rhinos website: "I can't thank people enough. We thought the target was going to be a real push to hit.
"To be able to do it on the first morning is completely overwhelming.
"I'm delighted to get the first one done. When I got here on the morning, it was frozen, cold, dark but thankfully the sun came out and we got a bit of blue sky.
That's my captain. Always guiding us forward. Always looking out for us. https://t.co/AJRRJAhlYx pic.twitter.com/LsGDg8ANEW — Rob Burrow (@Rob7Burrow) December 1, 2020
"The excitement and getting the fundraising news back regularly really picked us up. I'm looking forward to (Wednesday)."
As for the impressive time he recorded, the 40-year-old said: "It was probably a bit too quick! The start didn't help because we were freezing.
"I'm really pleased, it could have ended up being quite a lot quicker because of how we set off, we were able to pull the reins back a little bit."
:: To donate visit https://justgiving.com/crowdfunding/sinfield-7-in-7 or text MNDROB to 70085 to donate £7
