Paul Darbyshire remembered as Kevin Sinfield brings remarkable MND ultra marathon challenge to Cork

Sinfield, the current England Rugby Union assistant coach, has raised more than £10 million (€11.4m) for organisations, including the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association, since embarking on his fundraising crusade.

Sun, 30 Nov, 2025 - 11:24

Simon Lewis

The magnetic qualities Alex Codling sees in Kevin Sinfield are what will draw the Munster forwards coach to Cork on Tuesday as the former rugby league legend embarks on the latest leg of his ultra marathon challenge in support of Motor Neurone Disease charities.

Sinfield, the current England Rugby Union assistant coach, has already raised more than £10 million (€11.4m) for organisations, including the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association, since embarking on his fundraising crusade in honour of his late Leeds Rhinos team-mate and friend Rob Burrow to raise money and awareness for those impacted by MND.

Munster forwards Coach Alex Codling. Pic: Tom O’Hanlon, Inpho

This week sees Sinfield return to the roads of the UK and Ireland with Burrow’s shirt number the focal point for a sixth 7 in 7 Together mission, a set of seven ultra marathons in seven days across seven cities or regions with the Cork leg on Tuesday a means of remembering former Warrington RL player and Munster head of strength and conditioning Paul Darbyshire, who passed away from MND in 2011.

Codling has called Sinfield his friend since the pair met during the tail end of his tenure as Newcastle Falcons head coach, when the England assistant visited training.

“What a great bloke,” the Munster coach said, “we just hit off really…. it's always tough when you leave somewhere.

“So in those vacuums after that, for me, is when the people that you really sort of treasure and you think a lot of stand up and he was one of those people and I am forever grateful because, just the little things and bits and pieces he did, because he knew it was tough and often people would shy away and they stay away but actually in that moment then he was… I speak to him regularly, we meet regularly.

“I'm going to try and get down, we're training when he's down in Cork doing the run, I'm going to try and get down to the back end.

“I actually spoke to him (last Sunday) and the selflessness around Rob to do those marathons, to put your body through that is incredible.

“He's a winner. He's been at the top end of rugby league all his life, he went straight across to Leicester to do defence and he's the type of guy that when you look at ex-players, how they migrate towards him.

“I've been lucky enough to go back to the England set-up a few times since and the players love him and for me when you walk into a building and you see players around a certain coach like they do with him you know the value he has.

“I wish him all the very best, he's a mad bugger.”

Codling is not the only Sinfield/Leeds RL connection to Munster. Current team physio Keith Thornhill spent time at the Rhinos, while former Munster physio, Corkman David O’Sullivan, is part of the former player’s support staff on the 7 in 7 Together trail.

It will be Sinfield’s third visit to these shores having also run in Belfast and, last year, Dublin.

Munster Head of Strength and Conditioning Paul Darbyshire. Pre-Season Friendly, Munster v Sale Sharks, Musgrave Park, Cork. Picture credit; Diarmuid Greene / SPORTSFILE

“The experience of the last two years of being in Dublin and Belfast have been fantastic,” Sinfield said. “The support, the people, the welcome, we couldn't have asked for any more. Everybody's so welcoming and willing to spend time with us. And I'm really looking forward to going to Cork. I know it's a mad rugby area.

“And part of the reason for coming there is to keep trying to raise funds and spread the awareness in Ireland. But also, there was a rugby league guy called Paul Darbyshire who went and worked at Munster Rugby Club. And we sadly lost him through MND.

“I know that had a real effect on Munster at the time. And a lot of those guys are still there and still fully aware of Paul Darbyshire. So to have their support would be incredible.

“There's so many relationships and friendships that are already built. And as we know with rugby, forget the code, rugby lads, rugby girls stick together and they look after each other in times of need. And we saw that with the Leinster boys. We saw it with the Ulster boys. I'm sure we'll see it again with the Munster lads.”

Former England World Cup winner Lewis Moody’s recent diagnosis has delivered another reminder of this terrible illness to Sinfield and his team as they hit the streets of Cork from Bishopstown to Pairc ui Chaoimh via a number of checkpoints on Tuesday morning, bringing attention to the much broader impact of MND.

“There are six people who are diagnosed every single day in the UK,” the Yorkshireman said. So you think for every Lewis Moody, or RobBurrow, or Doddie Weir, or Marcus Stewart, (cricketer) Syd Lawrence, I could keep reeling the sports people off in particular, there are 10s and hundreds of thousands of others across the year.

“I think it sends shudders down everybody's spine and is a stark reminder that we've got to keep going, all of us together.

“We've got to keep fighting, we've got to keep trying to raise money so that people who are a lot smarter than me can find a cure. It can't continue, it has to change, we have to change the landscape for MND families and for those that are going through this.”

Distance on Route	Checkpoint Start	Start Time	Checkpoint Finish	Finish Time
START	Red FM	07:40	Virgin Media Park	08:14
7KM	Virgin Media Park	08:40	St Michael’s GAA Club	09:15
14KM	St Michael’s GAA Club	09:40	Circle K Petrol Station, Rochestown	10:14
21KM	Circle K Petrol Station, Rochestown	10:40	Highfield RFC	11:16
28KM	Highfield RFC	11:40	Leevale Athletics Club	12:17
35KM	Leevale Athletics Club	12:40	Cork City Hall	13:15
42KM	Cork City Hall	13:40	SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh	13:52