'Setting world records has become annual tradition'

Setting one world record is an achievement most people would be thrilled with. For Matthew Akpan, securing his first was the start of an "annual tradition" - breaking seven records in six years. According to the 37-year-old from Leeds, racking up Guinness World Records is not just about earning plaudits, but a way to show "no matter what label or what condition you have, you can be measured to anyone else in the world".

In 2013, Akpan was diagnosed with autism, with speech and language learning difficulties having been identified while he was at primary school. He first found a love of running during his school years - although it was not until adulthood that he got serious. After finding Parkrun and joining a running club, he started to "push" himself, he says.

"My life became structured around the running and that's where it was invaluable. "Without that structure, I don't know if I would have achieved what I had done. "If the running needs are sorted, then other things are not less important, but a bit easier to manage.

" In 2021, Akpan combined his passion for the sport with his other love - WWE wrestling - to set his first world record completing a marathon dressed as John Cena, the wrestler-turned-Hollywood actor. The challenge, finished in two hours, 56 minutes and 48 seconds, was in memory of his father, who died earlier the same year of kidney failure. "We were very close and we always watched WWE wrestling together," Akpan explains.