Charlie Bird will join England Rugby League legend Kevin Sinfield for the final mile of an ultra marathon in Dublin, today, as part of an epic challenge to raise awareness and funds to support those impacted by motor neurone disease (MND).
Covering a distance of almost 44KM, Sinfield will set off from Croke Park on his personal challenge at 12 noon with his route taking him through parts of Phibsborough, Ashtown, the Phoenix Park, Inchicore, Crumin, Rathgar, UCD and finishing at the Aviva Stadium at around 4pm.
Charlie Bird will join the marathon at UCD, at a stage called the Extra Mile, which sees invited guests join Sinfield for one mile towards the end of the marathon. Charlie will continue on to the end of the route with Sinfield, with the support of several rugby professionals.
A year ago, Sinfield and his team completed his third challenge when they ran from Edinburgh to Manchester, covering over 40 miles a day for seven days. This is the first time the England Rugby Union defensive coach will travel to Ireland for one of his ultra marathons.
The challenge began on Friday in Leeds, then went to Cardiff, Birmingham and Edinburgh before landing in Dublin and will finish in Brighton and London.
Since 2020, Sinfield and his team have raised over £8 million (almost €9.2M) with three endurance events that have captured the public’s imagination having been inspired by Sinfield’s former Leeds Rhinos team mate Rob Burrow.
“I am very happy to hear Charlie will be joining me in Dublin for the Extra Mile through to the end of the race,” said Sinfield. “It means a lot to get his support and I was so inspired by everything he has done for the MND community in Ireland with the Climb with Charlie campaign.”
“Physically this will be my toughest challenge as I have not been able to do the amount of training that I have done previously because of my commitments for the World Cup and we have set an ambitious time target to complete each ultra so people know that we will be pushing ourselves to the limit.”
“I am looking forward to it and seeing all the support out on the streets once again. For the MND community, every second counts and we will be making the most of every step on this challenge to raise awareness, funds and support for that community.”
“I would especially like to thank all the local authorities and councils who have given us their support, it means so much to everyone.”
“It is a privilege to join in the Extra Mile with Kevin and his team,” added Bird who recently received a special award from An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar for Climb with Charlie.
“It is such an incredible task he is undertaking and I wanted to extend the hand of friendship and support in any way I can.”
“What Kevin has done for the MND community in the UK is astonishing, and I look forward to joining him on 5th December for what is sure to be a wonderful occasion. I’m hopeful that we will see a lot of support from as many people as possible along the route.”
“Both Charlie and Kevin’s unwavering commitment to raising awareness for MND is admirable and we are very thankful to be part of this incredible challenge,” said Lillian McGovern, CEO of the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association.
“All funds raised will help us improve our services and supports available to people living with MND in Ireland and their families.”
