Two former Carlisle footballers are to take part in the Rob Burrow’s Marathon in May in memory of Tony Hopper.
The Carlisle United and Workington Reds midfielder died in 2018 after a brave fight against motor neurone disease.
Former Leeds Rhinos player Rob Burrow was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in December 2019. Since then, Rob and his family have campaigned tirelessly to raise awareness and funds to support other families living with MND.
The Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon will see over 10,000 participants take on a brand new route through Leeds that starts and finishes at Headingley Stadium.
Richard Prokas, who also played for Carlisle and Workington, along with Ian Milburn who played for the Reds, want to do their bit for the cause in memory of their pal Tony.
Milburn, who runs IM Events, said: “There are a dozen of us going to be taking part and earlier in the year we have another fund-raising event in Carlisle.
“We had something very similar a few years ago and it was one of the last events that Tony was able to attend himself.
“It went down very well then so we are running another on Saturday, March 25 at The Halston on Warwick Road.
“It’s billed as a black tie charity dinner with two courses, a disco, a live band from Carlisle – 3 River City – and I will be doing one or two spots to keep things moving along.
“About half the tickets have gone already. We have tables for 10 left which can be booked or anyone interested can book individually.”
Tony Hopper played over 100 games for his hometown club Carlisle United and over 200 for Workington. He also briefly played for Barrow.