Sam Perry, one of the Isle of Man’s leading athletes, has recently begun studying at Loughborough University.
The Northern AC and Isle of Man runner enjoyed a breakthrough summer at the 2025 Island Games in Orkney, winning his first two individual medals.
He claimed bronze in the 1500 metres before going one better with silver in the 800 metres — his time of 1:51.98 in the latter ranking as the fourth fastest run in Games history.
Exciting Start
Since first taking up athletics as an under-11, Sam has shown remarkable consistency across middle-distance track events, cross-country, and hill running. Now training at one of the UK’s premier high-performance environments, he’s continuing to make strong progress.
“Things at Loughborough are going really well at the moment and I’m really enjoying it here,” said Sam.
“Training’s been great, and I’m just trying to build some good consistency. I’ll be racing at the Liverpool Cross-Country at Sefton Park in November, but that’ll probably be my only cross-country race this season. For the first time, I’m going to give indoors a proper go and experiment a bit after a good chat with my coach.
Life at Loughborough
Sam added: “At the start of January, I’m heading to Valencia for a week-long training camp, and then over Easter I’ll be in Potchefstroom, South Africa, for a three-week camp which will be a completely new experience for me.
“My coach is Kyle Bennett who is a really nice guy and he’s been a big help. I’ve done two lactate tests so far, which were actually quite fun. The training partners here are incredible.
“I’m in the performance squad, which required a 1:51 800 metres time to qualify for, and I’m the slowest in it! Being part of performance means I get access to free blood tests, massages, and other support similar to Sport Aid on the Isle of Man, which Loughborough works closely with.
“My main training partners are Tom Waterworth (European U20 silver medallist, 1:46 800m), Jack Whittingham (1:49 800m), and Zachary Dunn (3:41 1500m). They’re all around my age and in the performance squad too. There are also some older, faster athletes we train with regularly.”
With strong support from his coach and an elite group of training partners, Sam is clearly thriving in his new environment.
His focus on consistency, new challenges indoors, and international training opportunities point to an exciting season ahead.