Rob Burrow and Kevin Sinfield had an unbreakable bond.

Kevin Sinfield has been instrumental in Rob Burrow's quest to raise awareness of BND. Photo: PA/Danny Lawson

It was an image of unfathomable power. The moment Kevin Sinfield stopped just steps short of the finish line of last year's Leeds Marathon to lift Rob Burrow out of his wheelchair and carry him over the line transcended anything that could conventionally be called sport. It represented the purest essence of their friendship, confirming that there is no limit to how far one person is willing to go for another.

The more brutally Burrow's abilities were curtailed, the more unbreakable his bond with Sinfield became. Their connection had the rarest quality: it was unconditional. “This is the best friendship,” Sinfield once said. Exactly. Despite his devastation, seeing Burrow suffer from the ravages of motor neurone disease, he became relentless in his belief that no sacrifice is too great and no effort too onerous to bear.

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He took on physical challenges that were beyond belief. First there were seven marathons in seven days, then 101 miles in 24 hours and finally a sequence of seven ultras that made his legs, by his own description, look like they had been run over by a lawnmower. All this, he explained, stems from his unconditional devotion to his wife.

The nobility of the enterprise excited the nation. You saw it in the people who lined his Sinfield route on muddy mornings in the Pennines, and in the emotion that ran through the crowd as he held Burrow's body in the final strides. The sincerity of their mutual admiration was beyond doubt. Burrow, who in the end could only communicate through an eye monitor that turned his blinks into letters, spoke of Sinfield's honesty and willingness to solve the most difficult problems with a minimum of fuss.

Leeds Rhinos legend Rob Burrow has died aged 41.

That was the moment his best friend Kevin Sinfield carried him across the finish line at Rob Burrow's first Leeds Marathon in May 2023.

He said it was 'one of the best days of my life'. pic.twitter.com/xRSZtIbzYP

— BBC Yorkshire (@BBCLookNorth) June 2, 2024

Sinfield, for his part, understood the fundamental truth that no amount of short-term discomfort could compare to what Burrow endured. There were times, away from the cameras, when sleep deprivation and the relentless grind of the roads could have crushed him. But he emerged from those depths by imagining the pain Burrow endured on a daily basis. It made him, he said, braver, tougher, more determined to avoid failure.

They ended up releasing a children's book to capture the essence of the relationship. “With You Every Step,” as it is called, with a series of illustrations documenting a devotion unlike any other. No matter how extreme Sinfield's efforts were, Burrow promised he would do the same for him. You never doubted it.

Sinfield reflected on how he wanted his experience to be brutal, how he was desperate to overcome even the barriers he knew in rugby league. Only this way, he rationalized, could he feel involved in the pursuit of the greater good. The raw numbers were humbling, with the couple raising more than £13 million for MND charities. But it is their absolute devotion to each other that leaves the most lasting impact. Brothers in arms: that term, as we saw on that unforgettable day in Leeds, might be coined for them.