Sin-ply the best

KEVIN Sinfield admits bacon and egg sandwiches and coffees helped him get through his unbelievable efforts.

And he even managed to conduct a training session with Saddleworth Rangers’ Under-15s while still on his exercise bike!

Friends, family and colleagues from Leeds Rhinos turned out in force on Monday, December 7 to welcome the Grasscroft-based star home on marathon number seven.

And no sooner had he crossed the final finishing line, he revealed just how he managed to carry out his Rangers responsibilities while keeping his legs moving.

Sinfield said: “As soon as we hit lockdown in March, we’ve done a Zoom on a Tuesday and Thursday night. That continued during the marathons, which I did while I was on my bike!

“The kids have been brilliant. They’re a wonderful side and I love helping them out.”

Sinfield’s final marathon took him around Saddleworth, taking in Grasscroft, Greenfield, Uppermill, Diggle and Delph.

Arguably, he did it in the best weather after running through heavy snow a few days previously, as well as rain and freezing temperatures.

But he admitted it was a thrill touring his home area, with even the traffic behaving itself.

He added: “The vast majority were absolutely brilliant. The support we’ve had has been unbelievable.

“So many friends were on the route and there were so many important landmarks for me around the villages I grew up in. And we had a great team that was protective of the runners.”

Sinfield’s achievements – raising more than £2.4 million and completing each marathon in under four hours – although number six in Leeds was, for him, by far the hardest – were superhuman.

But the day afterwards, it was back to his day job as Leeds’ director of rugby, and a rugby league regulatory meeting.

He also revealed his next domestic job may be a whole lot more mundane as he said: “I think the garage floor needs a paint, that’ll be the next job.”

The whole concept of the seven marathons in seven days started as what he described as a ‘crazy idea’ he messaged to a group of friend eight weeks prior to actually doing it.

But how did he get over one marathon and get ready for another? With the help of bacon and egg sandwiches, cookies, mince pies and calories.

Sinfield, who even found time to talk work as the Rhinos’ director of rugby while running number six, added: “First thing was get shaking, then if I’m being honest getting a bacon and egg butty and a coffee to warm up. It’s about getting as many calories in early on, that meant a couple of mince pies or cookies.

“Then get back, ice bath, Tubigrips on my feet, calves and shins. Aching went up my legs, I was going to end up like a mummy if I’d carried on. Then later in the afternoon get on the bike then back in the ice bath. Get in bed at 9pm-ish and toss and turn for seven hours before getting up again.

“I’d done some bits of work in the afternoons and had a good chat with Jamie Jones-Buchanan on rugby bits while we were out running on Sunday. It’s back to the day job. You’ll be pleased to know there was a regulatory meeting at 2pm and I was in it.”

Sinfield, who got the idea of doing something while travelling with Burrow – who surprised him by being on his route on Saturday – last year to see fellow MND campaigner Doddie Weir, knows how ‘horrific’ and ‘cruel’ a condition motor neurone disease is and had daily Zoom calls with sufferers.

His achievements have sparked calls to make the ‘Sir’ nickname he has at Leeds a real thing with a knighthood – he would rather see some good come of what he has done.

The 40-year-old added: “It’s not about that for me, the incredible support has been really nice but this was about Rob.

“When we set out on Tuesday morning, we were at about £40,000, so I was a bit concerned we may not hit our original target.

“Then suddenly it rolled in. Rob’s been completely overwhelmed by it. I get texts every night from him about how overwhelmed they’ve been.

“But if you’d said to me when I started, ‘You’ll get up on Monday with six in the bag, all under four hours, you’ll be just short of a million quid and you’ll feel the way you’re feeling’. I couldn’t have dreamt anything better.

“We’ve been proud to wear the vest, with his number seven on and the association on the front.

“Sometimes you just need to help a mate, that’s all we can do. We’ve been in seven runs, that’s all we can do.

“Now we just need to find a cure. We’ve got to do something about it.”

“To be able to send him a text and tell him we’ve achieved what we talked about on that dark in December and more gives us as friends great satisfaction.

“Hopefully these funds will be used in exactly the right way to help families and make this a bit better for them – and ultimately find a cure.

“But I don’t think there’ll be anything as extreme as this in future. I’m 40 now, I’ve got to be a bit careful.”