Leeds runner Matthew Akpan on John Cena, his Guinness World Records and inspiring others

Crossgates man Matthew wanted to use his running skills in a way that would honour his late father – and attempt world records, currently holding two for running the fastest marathon and fastest half marathon dressed as a professional wrestler.

He donned the outfit of WWE star John Cena – jean shorts, regular (not running) trainers and cap – when participating in the Yorkshire Marathon at York in October 2021, achieving a time of two hours, 56 minutes and 48 seconds, and also wore the costume in the Leeds half marathon in May 2022, finishing after one hour, 24 minutes and 54 seconds.

“It was the most difficult thing I've ever done,” says Matthew. “At the end, I couldn 't stop shaking for like half an hour. I had to eat many things to stop that, to get the blood sugar levels going again. Only for a few seconds, I lost like half hearing, and then had all these shin splints and my feet were literally destroyed through blisters. I would not encourage anyone else to do it, not because I don’t want (the record) broken but because I know what I went through!”

He intends to get the costume out again for this year’s Great North Run half marathon in September, as 2025 is due to be John Cena's last year in wrestling.

Matthew also held another record for guessing the most amount of WWE wrestlers’ theme tunes in one minute, which has since been broken, so he tried again and is waiting to hear if he was successful.

Over the last few years he has raised money for charities such as Victim Support with his challenges.

Now, Leeds Rhinos fan Matthew has been nominated for the Rob Burrow Outstanding Courage Award at the Yorkshire Choice Awards 2025.

Matthew, 36, a member of the Hyde Park Harriers, first started running when he was 13 but it only lasted a couple of years. Later, he moved out of his childhood home and wanted to pursue his own hobbies, so restarted running in 2008 with a simple objective.

"My goal initially – this was in January 2008 when I started running – was just to see how fast I could go. Then I realised that I had a good tolerance of wanting to run. And then all of a sudden I started getting to the top of certain levels,” he says.

"I was third one year at the Jane Tomlinson event, at Parkrun I beat (Olympic runner) Laura Weightman.”

He couldn’t have done it without Parkrun, he says, and the individuals who have helped him over the years: Simon Bedford, Danny Wilkinson, Roy Huggins, Ken Fox, Fesal Amin, and his mother, Petula.

In 2013, Matthew was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome – now considered a type of autism spectrum disorder – and shares this because he wants to inspire others to achieve. His perseverance shows in how he attained his Sport, Leisure and Culture degree from Leeds Beckett University in 2015, which came after a lengthy process of being diagnosed and changing courses, taking seven years from first embarking on higher education.

He says: “I still think the degree is probably the thing that I'm most proud of because of how long it took.”