Kevin Sinfield reveals route for his 'Running home for Christmas' challenge to raise funds for six Motor Neurone Disease charities

Kevin will set off from Liverpool with the aim of running more than 230 miles in seven days across seven regions of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

This will be his fifth annual challenge for the motor neurone disease (MND) community, having raised nearly £10million in the first four events.

This year’s challenge has the tagline of “Running home for Christmas”, as the seventh day will end in Kevin’s home area of Saddleworth.

The opening stage in Liverpool will include him taking part in the city’s annual BTR Liverpool Santa Dash.

Kevin will be raising money for six MND charities including the Darby Rimmer Foundation, which was set up by former Liverpool defender Stephen Darby after he was diagnosed with the disease back in 2018.

Kevin said: “I am really looking forward to the start line and being joined by 7,000 Santas will certainly put us in a festive spirit.

“This year’s event will be particularly poignant having lost Rob in June but our commitment to Rob’s memory is to continue to support the MND community.

“We are looking forward to meeting more people than ever from the MND community throughout the week and giving them the opportunity to continue to bang the drum for MND.”

The week-long challenge will see Kevin and the team covering more than 50km per day.

Each day will be broken down into 7km blocks, the number seven as always central to Kevin’s challenge in recognition of his friend and former team mate Rob, who passed away from MND in June and who wore the number during his glittering career alongside Kevin at Leeds Rhinos.

The team will aim to complete each 7km within one hour before the next block must start on the hour.

The challenge will once again see the return of the Extra Mile events from last year’s 7 in 7 in 7 Challenge, when members of the MND community joined Kevin and the team to complete their own mile.

Members of the public can sponsor Kevin at https://donate.giveasyoulive.com/fundraising/kevin-sinfield-and-teams-fundraising or by texting Kevin10 to 70143 to donate £10.

For more details of the route for the 2024 challenge, visit www.therhinos.co.uk/the-club/sinfield-christmas-2024