Former England rugby league international Kevin Sinfield ends the first day of his 7 in 7: Together ultra-marathon MND charity fundraiser at Portman Road this afternoon having begun in Suffolk in tribute to Blues legend Marcus Stewart.
Stewart, 53, was diagnosed with the disease in 2022 and has since raised funds for the Darby Rimmer MND Foundation, the charity founded by former Liverpool and Bradford City defender Stephen Darby, which is among the organisations Sinfield is raising money for via his Give as you Live page through his latest event.
Sinfield, 45, has previously raised more than £10 million for those impacted by MND from his five previous challenges, inspired by his friend and former teammate Rob Burrow, who died with the disease last year.
The Leeds Rhinos legend is running seven ultra-marathons in seven days across seven cities or regions, including an extra mile event in which members of the MND community will join him for one mile each day. The daily runs are being broken down into 7km blocks to be completed inside an hour.
The opening day of the event began this morning at Bury St Edmunds RFC and ends this afternoon at Portman Road at around 2.55pm with the public encouraged to give their support along the way. Progress can be tracked here.
"I can’t wait to get started in Bury St Edmunds,” Sinfield said. "I know the rugby club have already made lots of plans to make sure it is our biggest ever send-off and that will really kick start this years event.
"We chose to finish at Ipswich Town in tribute to our good friend Marcus Stewart. I know how highly Marcus is thought of at Ipswich and it will be brilliant to see Marcus and his wife Lou at the finish line.
"There are also members of the MND community in East Anglia who will be coming to meet us along the way and that is very much the theme of this year’s event as we all come together to support each other.”