Ainsley Bennett

Born in Jamaica but brought up in Birmingham, England, Bennett attended Naseby Secondary Modern School (now Park View), in the area known as Alum Rock, Birmingham. This school also produced a Republic of Ireland International cross-country runner, Paul O'Callaghan, who competed in six World Cross Country Running Championships.

Ainsley competed for Birchfield Harriers based in Perry Barr in North Birmingham and finished third behind American Mark Lutz in the 200 metres event at the 1974 AAA Championships.^[2] The following year he was runner-up behind another American Steve Riddick in both the 100 and 200 metres events at the 1974 AAA Championships but by virtue of being the highest placed British athlete in those events he was considered both the British 100 metres champion and the British 200 metres champion.^[3]

At the 1976 Olympics Games in Montreal, he represented Great Britain, where he reached the semi-finals of the men's 200m sprint race, as well as being one of the men's 4 × 400 m relay team which failed to progress further than the first heats.^[1]

Bennett was on the podium at the AAA Championships twice more in 1976 and 1979^[4] and won a bronze medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay at the 1983 World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki, with teammates Garry Cook, Todd Bennett and Philip Brown, in a time of 3:03.53, finishing behind the Soviet Union and West Germany.

After finishing his athletics career, Bennett founded an events management and corporate hospitality business using his contacts to specialise in tickets.^{[citation needed]} Bennett is also a Trustee for Birchfield Harriers.^{[citation needed]}

• 100m – 10.21 (1979)
• 200m – 20.42 (1979)
• 400m – 46.15 (1975)

• http://www.olympics.org.uk/athleterecord.aspx?at=457
• https://web.archive.org/web/20100531034235/http://www.flotrack.org/articles/view/351-paul-ocallaghan-aspire-running
• Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Ainsley Bennett". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020.
• http://www.sportinglife.com/athletics/worldathletics2005/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=others/05/07/15/ATHLETICS_World_Medals.html