Northampton lad to honour rugby hero, Rob Burrow, by completing long cycling challenge for motor neurone disease charity

A young Northampton boy has set himself a lengthy cycling challenge to raise money for a motor neurone disease charity after his sporting hero was diagnosed with the illness.

Jacob Horsey, who lives in Harpole with his mum, dad and two younger siblings, has set out to cycle 200km in just a month in a bid to raise money for the Motor Neurone Association.

The nine-year-old wants to honour his sporting hero, Rob Burrow, who was diagnosed with the illness in 2019 two years after retiring from professional rugby league.

Burrow was playing for Leeds Rhinos when Jacob - who supports the club due to his father’s family being from the city - was a mascot at a home game.

The scrum-half looked after Jacob and the youngster has had a soft spot for him ever since.

Jacob’s mum, Rebecca Horsey, said: “It was all Jacob’s idea.

“He wanted to raise some money and he had seen one of Rob Burrow's teammates running seven marathons in seven days.

“A friend of his has also recently done some fundraising, so Jacob wanted to get involved.”

The schoolboy started his challenge yesterday (February 14) in the rain and he plans to go on a shorter bike ride daily, with his younger siblings in tow.

Longer rides, including to and around Upton Country Park, will then happen at weekends with his dad, Chris.

When Jacob came up with the idea he set himself an initial fundraising goal of £200.

Less than a week after starting an online fundraising page, Jacob has already raised more than £1,400, at the time of writing.

Rebecca added: “It’s overwhelming and mind blowing that he has already raised six times the amount he set out to raise.

“We really chuffed, so now he just needs to get out there and do it.

“It was never about raising a massive amount of money it was more about challenging himself but it’s lovely that he is raising a bit more.”

Jacob’s mum and dad shared their son’s fundraising on a village Facebook group and professionally, but never expected it to ‘snowball’ the way it has.

Jacob himself is excited to be taking on the challenge as he loves bike rides and is extremely proud of how much he has already managed to raise.

To sponsor Jacob, visit his JustGiving page here.

Message from the editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper while out for your essential shopping.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the highest standards in the world. The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers and consequently the advertising that we receive. We are now more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you