Jamie Peacock: The inaugural Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon

13 May 2023

Jamie Peacock: The inaugural Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon

I'm looking forward to taking part in the inaugural Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon tomorrow which starts and finishes at Headingley Stadium.

The marathon will be a great legacy for Rob and the courage and bravery shown in the face of his battle with MND and also his legacy for Kevin (Sinfield) as well, given what he's put himself through with his running efforts these last three years.

The key now is to make sure it's a success on Sunday, enough money gets raised to get the Rob Burrow Centre for MND funded and then it needs to keep going.

I'm sure it's going to be an amazing day for people suffering with MND and their families - that will again bring the condition into the public eye - but it's also great for the city of Leeds as a whole.

It's also wonderful for the sport of rugby league; I know a number of players who are doing it. 

There's myself, Jamie Jones-Buchanan and Adrian Morley while Luke Burgess - whose dad died from MND - has flown in from Australia to do it as has the ex-Castleford winger Nick Youngquest.

Barrie McDermott's doing the half-marathon and Kev's going to be pushing Rob all the way around the full one. Rob's fight against MND and Kev's inspirational work to help raise awareness and money has brought the rugby league community together again but also put it in the wider public profile.

I still see Rob as regular as possible. I organised for eight or nine ex-players to go around to his dad Geoff's house to just chat in and around him. Rob contributes where he can and it?s down to us as players to keep that relationship alive and make sure we have that camaraderie when our diaries fit. And reminisce about how good we thought we were at rugby - or not so good in some cases!

Read Jamie Peacock's full column on the Daily Mirror website.