KEVIN Sinfield could be forgiven for wanting to give his legs a rest after completing his latest mammoth fundraising challenge.
But expect him back on the streets of Saddleworth sooner than you would think.
The Grasscroft-based rugby league legend, now the skills and kicking coach of England’s rugby union team, and his team have raised another £1.4 million for motor neurone disease charities in the name of friend and former team-mate Rob Burrow.
That takes the total over six challenges to more than £11 million, plus the immeasurable awareness raised.
Running about 185 miles in seven days for 7 in 7: Together is enough to make anyone want to put their feet up for a long time.
However, after finishing at Leeds Rhinos’ AMT Headingley stadium – where he and Burrow are legends, he did so for the rest of Sunday, December 7. Thoughts then turned quickly to getting back on the road.
Speaking immediately after having a well-earned bath following his triumphant finish, Sinfield told Saddleworth Independent: “I’d like to think I’ll be out walking tomorrow (Monday, December 8) at some point.
“Running? Hopefully by the end of the week.”
Sinfield’s actions – which he describes as ‘doing something for a mate’ – have seen calls for him to receive a knighthood grow.
On Saturday, December 6, he received public royal acclaim in a post from Prince William – but it came personally too.
He added: “I got a really nice message sent through and then clearly, I saw the one that went out publicly.
“I got a personal text message as well, which was lovely and it means a lot to see people believing in us and getting behind us again.
“It’s a really good thing.”
Sinfield has a huge Saddleworth influence in his team. Running alongside him are David Spencer – and Chris Stephenson.
On bikes were Darrel Rogers, who the central figure described as ‘being like my wife for a week,’ Phil Allingan – who owns Abaco in Uppermill and was navigator – and Martin Woolstencroft, who was raised in Dobcross.
Sinfield, who was cheered home by wife Jayne, sons Jack and Sam and former Premier League footballer Marcus Stewart, who is living with MND, continued: “Phil has a big say in where we’re going and some of the locations we visit, but Tristan Natley-Kyle’s in charge of the route.
“Phil did a wonderful job navigating again. We always have the odd hiccup, but it’s part of the challenge.
“It’s been a great week and the support we’ve had was awesome. People lined the streets for us no matter what the weather’s been. It’s been a great thing to be part of again.
“Last year, I went in injured and was carrying all week. This week’s fit and healthy. For the whole team, there’s a few bumps and bruises.
“There’s seven days of running in us, so there’ll be some bits that are sore, but tomorrow we’ll be all right. We’ll start to fix up. The MND community don’t have a chance to fix up tomorrow.
“It gives you a great deal of perspective. They have a daily challenge, a daily fight, a daily struggle.
“Whereas for us, we’ve had a tough seven days, but nothing like what they go through and we’ll be all right tomorrow.
“But they’ve got to face up to it again and things don’t work for them like they should and that gets worse every single day.”
Challenge number six may be only just over, but plans are afoot for number seven, which matches the number Burrow graced for Leeds.
And while giving nothing away about what form it will take, a route is already being planned.
He said: “You probably won’t be surprised at the fact that the first job I did when I got on the coach last Sunday morning was ask to plan a route for me so I could work out how many miles it was, how it’d look in terms of across seven days and some of the logistics.
“Before we’d even kicked a ball on this one, plans were shaping up for next year.”
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