Ainsley Bennett

Ainsley Bennett (born July 22, 1954, St Catherine, Jamaica) is a British former Olympic and World Championship sprinter from Birmingham, UK.

Early life

Brought up in Birmingham, West Midlands, in the UK, Bennett attended Naseby Secondary Modern School (The school changed its name to Park View in the 1980s, and remains so to this date), in the area known as Alum Rock, Birmingham. This school coincidentally also produced a Republic of Ireland International cross-country runner, Paul O'Callaghan, who competed in six World Cross Country Running Championships, qualified for the Olympics (although injury prevented him from taking part) and wore the green of Éire from 1982 to 2003 in road, track and cross country races.

Athletics career

Ainsley competed for Birchfield Harriers Athletics Club, based in Perry Barr in North Birmingham, and represented Great Britain at the 1976 Olympic Games held in Montreal, Canada, 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 unfortunately failed to progress further than the first heats.

However, Bennett fared better in the 4 x 400 metres relay at the 1983 World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki, where he and fellow team-mates Garry Cook, Todd Bennett and Philip Brown took the bronze medal in a time of 3:03.53, finishing behind the Soviet Union and West Germany.

Career personal bests

200m - 20.42 (1979)
400m - 46.15 (1975)

Current activity

After finishing his athletics career Ainsley founded a successful events management and corporate hospitality business, Ainsley Bennett Associates, using his contacts to specialise in tickets to hard-to-find and VIP events and although he no longer runs competitively, Ainsley is a Trustee for Birchfield Harriers.

He and his partner, Mary Sharp, now live in Hampton-in-Arden with their two children: Callum and Ruaidhri Bennett.

References

UK National Championship winners in men's 100 metres

1977-1997	1977 Ainsley Bennett 1978 Allan Wells 1979 Trevor Hoyte 1980-81 Cameron Sharp 1982 Earl Tulloch 1983 Buster Watson 1984 Mike McFarlane 1985 Linford Christie 1986 Jamie Henderson 1987 Linford Christie 1988 John Regis 1989 Marcus Adam 1990-93 Linford Christie 1997 Ian Mackie

UK National Championship winners in men's 200 metres

1977-1997	1977 Ainsley Bennett 1978 Allan Wells 1979 Earl Tulloch 1980 Cameron Sharp 1981 Earl Tulloch 1982 Mike McFarlane 1983 Buster Watson 1984 Todd Bennett 1985 Linford Christie & John Regis 1986 John Regis 1987 Roger Black 1988 Linford Christie 1989 Marcus Adam 1990 Ade Mafe 1991 John Regis 1992 Marcus Adam 1993 John Regis 1997 Dougie Walker

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