This conversation is with Sam who is originally from the West Midlands of England from the town of Kidderminster but joined TeamThie back in 2015 during his first year at Cardiff Met University.

During his junior career, he competed on the track where he won multiple county titles from the 1500m to the 3000m and also represented his county at the English Schools cross country championships on three occasions.

The Steeplechase was his primary event as a junior where he won the bronze medal at the Midland Senior Championships at 18 before eventually switching to the longer distances of the 5k and 10k on both the road and track. He has since competed in numerous national championships on the road, track and cross country surfaces respectively.

2018 was a good period for Sam as he set personal bests in a range of different distances, he also concluded his Cardiff Met career with a 14th place finish and personal best at the BUCS 10,000m championships in Loughborough.

It was also in 2018 that Lloyd-Perks fulfilled his lifelong ambition of competing in the American Collegiate system when he joined Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee to pursue a Masters degree whilst racing in both Cross Country and Track. In his two years in the NCAA, he gained All-Conference honours in Cross Country two years in a row and also set personal bests from the 1500m up to the 10,000m with his proudest moment coming on a cold and windy night in Chicago where he set his current 10k personal best of 32:13.

Sam is still based in the States and will be making a future transition back to the roads and a step up in racing distances looking likely.

You can follow Sam on Instagram @samlloydperks