Leeds Rhinos legend Kevin Sinfield has spoken about overcoming the pain barrier during his most recent 7 in 7 in 7 challenge.
Kevin Sinfield ran over 50 kilometres every day for seven straight days all in aid of raising money to combat Motor Neurone Disease, a condition that his ex-Rhinos teammate Rob Burrow was diagnosed with in December 2019.
Since then, Sinfield has completed one challenge per year but this was the first to take place without Burrow, who sadly passed away in June of this year. That added further emotion to the challenge, one that Sinfield has confirmed he was in real danger of not finishing.
Previous challenges have seen him pushed to the extremes, however, this was the first of those in which he has gone into it carrying a serious injury, as revealed on the last of the seven-day challenge.
Physio Dave O’Sullivan told the BBC: “It was about 10 days before he started, he picked up an injury running onto Twickenham with England. We’ve had a scan, we’ve had three different opinions and unfortunately, he tore one of the biggest muscles for running and there are a few other injuries in there as well.
“The grade of muscle tear that he’s got, you shouldn’t be running on it, I’ll put it that way. To do seven ultra-marathons in seven days is pretty incredible. This is the first year that we’ve had to say to him there’s a high chance you might not be able to get through this.”
Incredibly though, Kevin Sinfield did manage to complete the challenge with the 44-year-old raising a total of over £1.1 million.
‘Worth every step’ – Kevin Sinfield on running injured for latest MND fundraiser
Credit: Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com
Following the completion of his challenge, he appeared on BBC Breakfast to discuss the week-long challenge, what next and also his injury.
“I’ve been better but I’m alright,” Sinfield explained when asked how he was fairing.
“Within a couple of days, I’ll be back to normal.”
Explaining how the injury affected him across the week, he said: “I know it got released on the last day but the injury three weeks out. I’ve no problem running in pain and there is a difference between being injured and being in pain. So it was just a case of having to run slightly differently which has left me with a little bit of lower back trouble.
“To be here now, knowing that it is all completed and we’ve got through okay is great.”
It wasn’t just injury that conspired against him last week but also the weather with Storm Darragh brewing in the final few days, creating a wet, windy and cold environment to run in but Sinfield explained that when you’re running for something so important, that’s all irrelevant.
He explained: “The emotion, running for Rob again and having that number seven on our shirt. The team we have is incredible.
“We don’t want to let people down either. Injury or not, we only have one window to do this. Everyone has taken time off work, and all the sponsors are in place, so it’s either now or we don’t do it.
“I don’t mind running in pain and being busted now for a few weeks. It’s worth every step.
“People with MND don’t have a choice. They wake up every day and they’re a little bit worse than the day before. My body will fix itself up so for us to continue like we did, be shoulder to shoulder with them is a really great message.”
