Kevin Sinfield says Doddie Weir’s attitude helped him in marathon feat
KEVIN Sinfield has revealed he was helped through his marathon fundraising efforts by some high level positive mental attitude from north of the border.
The Leeds Rhinos legend's seven 26-milers in as many days captured the nation's imagination as he raised a staggering £2.65 million for pal and former team-mate Rob Burrow and the Motor Neurone Disease Association.
That is not the end of it as just hours afterwards, ideas of what to do next started floating around - there will be another 'biggie.'
But after wondering what he was doing as he prepared for the seven in seven, Sinfield admitted former Scotland RU star and fellow MND patient, 6ft 6ins Doddie Weir's, approach to life helped him through.
Sinfield revealed: “There’s not many people I’ve come across that are as positive, especially when they’re as challenged as he is.
“We’ve become really good friends and he’s that positive he’s been good for me. It rubs off on you and makes you want to be a better person.
“The day before we started, he rang me and said, ‘I’m going to be with you but not run seven marathons. I’m going to do seven cans of Guinness a day.’ I think he managed day one!
“Now the conversations are, ‘How do we generate more and have more of an impact? How do we keep driving this?’
“Talk of what we can do next started on the day we finished. There are a couple of ideas, I’d like to think we can do another biggie around Rob.”
Sinfield's act for his pal was acknowledged at the Sports Personality of the Year awards and brought much media attention.
For the 40-year-old, though, it was not about that. It was just about offering hope people living with MND.
He added: “Every afternoon, I spoke with someone either living with MND, a family member or someone who had lost a loved one.
“That gave us a real appreciation of what the disease does. I’ve seen what it can do first hand over the last 12 months with Rob but some of the stories are so cruel and spurred us on.
“They’ve been waiting for a catalyst to really push and get some awareness out there. With more of that, funding and research, there’s more chance of a cure – and we’ve seen with Covid-19 if you throw enough money at something, we’ll find the answers.”
Sinfield and 38-year-old Burrow may have appeared the opposite of each other but their bond is unbreakable.
Even when the latter gets the former in messages they send.
Sinfield, Leeds' director of rugby, told SunSport: "We exchange messages most days and he’s still sending me funny replies.
“We always had a pact, we’d have a laugh at each other’s expense but we we’d never actively go searching for each other with banter.
“He’s still got his humour, that big smile and twinkle in his eyes, he’s still absolutely full of life.
“We message each other about many things. He’s my mate, it’s like anyone messaging a friend.”
FUNDRAISING for Kevin Sinfield’s 7 in 7 continues. You can donate online at
