Sir Kevin Sinfield shared a joke with the Princess Royal on the latest leg of his final challenge to raise money for motor neurone disease (MND) charities at the University of York on Monday.
Sinfield’s seventh ultra-running effort, which started at Hull KR’s Craven Park on Sunday, will see him visit all 12 English Super League grounds before finishing at Old Trafford ahead of the Grand Final.
Arriving at the university’s sport centre, he was greeted by the Princess Royal, who laughed when one of Sinfield’s team suggested she may like to accompany them for a leg on a horse.
Asked if he was enjoying the sunny weather, Sinfield replied: “If I’m being brutally honest, I’d love it to be bouncing down”, explaining his belief that it helps with fundraising if people watching on television think he is having a hard time.
Sinfield was joined for part of the York leg by Lewis Moody, the former England rugby union captain who was diagnosed with MND last year.
Inspired by former Leeds Rhinos team-mate Rob Burrow, who died in 2024 after living with MND for four and a half years, Sinfield and his team have raised more than £11million for the MND community since his first annual challenge in 2020.
As of lunchtime on the second day of his latest challenge, Sinfield had raised well over half a million pounds, or 70 per cent of the £777,777 target.
Six charities are set to benefit once again from this year’s fundraising – the MND Association, Leeds Hospitals Charity, My Name’5 Doddie Foundation, Darby Rimmer Foundation, MND Scotland and the Irish MND Association.
Sinfield’s quest will end when he presents the match ball at Old Trafford prior to the Grand Final. In a remarkable twist, that could mean handing it to his son, Jack Sinfield, who plays for shock finalists Wakefield.
