A WOMAN from Westhoughton is running 77km in seven days in a bid to raise £7,777 for the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

Debbie Croston has been inspired by former Rugby League player Kevin Sinfield, who raised more than £2.5 million for the charity following teammate Rob Burrow’s battle with the disease.

He completed seven marathons in seven days in a widely acclaimed fundraising effort.

Debbie Croston is hoping to raise the cash as part of the charity’s 7-in-7 challenge and also with her son Sean, 21, who plays rugby for Whitehaven, in mind.

Having seen Rob Burrow’s deterioration in a matter of months, Debbie is hoping to encourage people to raise as much money towards finding a cure.

She said: “As my son plays rugby and I have been into it for quite some time, I obviously saw Kevin Sinfield doing his challenge and have been following Rob Burrow’s story. My son’s a young, healthy lad and it could happen to anyone, as we saw with Rob.

“I watched the documentary about it last year after putting off doing so for so long because I knew it would get me going.

“Me and some friends then decided to do the 7-in-7 challenge. We knew we couldn’t do seven marathons in seven days though - we are not superhuman like Kevin.”

Debbie is encouraging others to get involved with the fundraising, saying that the challenge can be as little or as much as you can handle.

She said: “I want people to just go out and do it. Just set up a fundraising page and try and raise money. Anything can help.”

Debbie plans to run her 77km - 11km a day - at the end of February. She has previously run a marathon to raise money for the MND association, and is cautiously optimistic for her new challenge.

She said: “I do run most days but I still think it’s going to be quite a challenge. When I was training for the marathon I was doing 5km a day so it is a bit of a step up.”

To donate to the charity, visit mndassociation.org