19/11/2024
๐ฅ๐จ๐ก๐ก๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ ๐๐ข๐ฅ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐ง๐ ๐๐ฆ - ๐๐๐๐๐๐ฆ๐ง
News just in! We now have timings and checkpoints confirmed for Kevin Sinfield CBE's run for MND in Belfast on 3 December ๐คฉ
The week long challenge will see Sinfield and the team covering over 50km per day, visiting seven regions across Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Each day will be broken down into 7km blocks, the number 7 as always central to Sinfieldโs challenge in recognition of his friend and former team mate Rob Burrow, who wore the number during his glittering career alongside Sinfield at Leeds Rhinos.
The team will aim to complete each 7km within one hour before the next block must start on the hour, meaning the only rest the team will get between each leg is the time spare after they have completed the block.
Sinfield will start at Kingspan Stadium, the home of Ulster Rugby, at 7am before running via Stormont, the Titanic Quarter and heading out north along Shore Road towards Fortwilliam Golf Club. Sinfield will then turn back towards Andersonstown and call at St Pauls GAA, where former Antrim Gaelic footballer captain Anto Finnegan played before he passed away from MND back in 2021. The challenge will finish at the National Football Stadium at Windsor Park by the George Best statue around 1.30pm.
We would love to see members of the MND community and supporters out at the checkpoints and on the route to cheer Kev and the team on as they take on this epic challenge.
The Belfast leg of the Extra Mile will also see Mary Peters welcome Kev to the athletics track before he completes a mile with members of the MND community.
Kevin Sinfield said, โWe are very much looking forward to coming to Belfast. Last year in Dublin it was great to have former Ulster rugby players Tommy Bowe and Ian Madigan as part of our team and they both told us we had to come to Belfast this year because of the warm welcome we would receive. Our running top for the day reflects the colours of Ulster Rugby and St Pauls GAA and it is always special to come to a new city as we look spread the word about MND and show our support for those impacted by the disease. I would like to particularly thank Mary Peters for her support, she is an inspirational person and it will be lovely to see her at the track named in her honour.โ
Stephen Thompson, Chairman of the Motor Neurone Disease Association's Northern Ireland Branch, said: "We are so excited to welcome Kev to the city of Belfast. He has done so much to bang the drum for the motor neurone disease community and raised millions of pounds in the fight to find a cure.
"There are more than 100 people in Northern Ireland who are living with MND, and our aim is to ensure each person and their family have access to support should they want it. MND has touched the sporting community in Northern Ireland with Anto Finnegan, former Antrim GAA captain who passed away from MND in 2021, and the support of former Ulster Rugby players in Kev's challenge in Dublin last year.
"Motor neurone disease is very cruel but to see Kev and his team undertake what seem like such impossible challenges means so much to this community. We would love to see lots of people lining the streets and at Kev's checkpoints around Belfast to cheer them on and help us raise as much money as possible for the Motor Neurone Disease Association."
Members of the public can sponsor Sinfield at https://donate.giveasyoulive.com/fundraising/kevin-sinfield-and-teams-fundraising or text Kevin10 to 70143 to donate ยฃ10.
For more details of the entire route for the 2024 challenge visit www.therhinos.co.uk/the-club/sinfield-christmas-2024
