31 January 2023 Fundraising
Viewers of a new BBC documentary will take a trip down memory lane and relive the fundraising challenges of Motor Neurone Disease Association patron Kevin Sinfield OBE.
Kevin Sinfield: Going The Extra Mile will feature new and exclusive footage of Kevin’s trilogy of fundraising events, inspired by his best friend and former team-mate Rob Burrow who is living with motor neurone disease (MND).
The half hour programme will follow Kevin on his three-year fundraising journey for MND, which started in 2020 with his 7 in 7 challenge to raise money for the MND Association. The following year saw Kevin run 101 miles in 24 hours from Leicester to Leeds to complete the Extra Mile challenge for the MND Association and Leeds Hospitals Charity. Last November, Kevin and his team rounded off their trilogy with the most gruelling feat yet – seven ultra-marathons in seven days and raised more than £2 million for five MND charities.
The documentary will include intimate moments with Kevin’s friends, his family and hundreds of supporters as he runs through towns and cities across the UK. It will also feature interviews with people living with MND who have been helped, supported and inspired by Kevin’s fundraising.
“When we set out on the first challenge back in December 2020, we just wanted to help a friend who had found himself in the toughest imaginable position. With a young family of three children under the age of 10, he had been handed a life ending MND diagnosis and, worse still, like so many, was then locked in his home as we battled the impact of Covid-19.
“What started out as a way to help a friend became so much more over the course of those first seven marathons in seven days and has grown incredibly over the subsequent two challenges of the Extra Mile and the Ultra 7 in 7. I think everyone can imagine what they would do for their friend in the same position and the overwhelming support has shown that we are a nation who cares about people who are facing their own adversity.
“I am proud to be part of the MND community. The people who are living with the impact of MND who I have been privileged to meet since 2020 inspire me every day and we will never stop banging the drum for MND until we find a cure.”
Kevin, speaking to the BBC
Kevin Sinfield: Going The Extra Mile will air on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer on Friday 3 February at 7pm.