Christine Benning (née Tranter, born 30 March 1955) is an

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former middle-distance runner who competed mainly in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

and the

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000m shoul ...

. In the 1500 m, she represented

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at the 1984 Olympic Games in

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, finishing fifth in the final. She won a silver medal at the

1978 Commonwealth Games The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta from 3 to 12 August 1978, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics were held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with apar ...

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

. She also broke the UK record in 1979, with 4:01.53. As of 2022, she still ranks in the UK all-time top ten (outdoors) for the

mile The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 English ...

Career

Benning was born in Urmston,

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. In 1971, as Christine Tranter, she won the AAAs Under 17 800 metres title. In 1974, still a teenager, she was 15th at the

World Cross Country Championships World Athletics Cross Country Championships is the most important competition in international cross country running. Formerly held annually and organised by World Athletics (formerly the IAAF), it was inaugurated in 1973, when it replaced the Int ...

and won a gold medal in the team event. In 1975, she was 18th. She finished fifth in the 1500 m final at the 1977 World Student Games (Universiade) in

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in 4:09.7. In 1978, Benning was 12th at the World Cross Country Championships in

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. In the summer, she won the

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the officia ...

3000 m title in 8:52.33. Then at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

, she won a silver medal in the 1500 m final behind Mary Stewart, running 4:07.53. In 1979, she broke Sheila Carey's seven-year-old UK record in the 1500 metres, running 4:01.53 in Zurich. The record would stand for five years. In the early 1980s, Benning achieved two more top twenty finishes at the World Cross Country Championships, with 14th in 1981 and 18th in 1983. At the 1983 World Championships in

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, she reached the 3000 metres final, finishing thirteenth in 8:58.01. Benning achieved her highest placement at the

in 1984, finishing sixth in

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. Then in the summer, she added the AAAs 1500 m title to her previous wins at 800 m and 3000 m. At the

1984 Los Angeles Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

, she reached the 1500 m final, finishing fifth in 4:04.70. She ended the 1984 season by running her best ever times in both the 3000 metres and the mile, with 8:44.46 in Zurich and 4:24.57 in London. In 1986, Benning won the AAAs 3000 m title, going on to place fourth at the

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. At the

1987 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 1987 IAAF World Cross Country Championships was held in Warszawa, Poland, at the Służewiec Racecourse on March 22, 1987. A report on the event was given in the Glasgow Herald and in the Evening Times. Complete results for men, juni ...

she finished 20th, her seventh top twenty finish in the event. In the summer, she won the UK Championships 1500 m title. Then at the World Championships in

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in September, she reached the 3000 m final for the second time, finishing 12th in 8:57.92. Benning is the only woman to have won AAAs Senior National titles at 800 m, 1500 m and 3000 m. On the UK all-time lists, she ranks 15th in the 1500 m (4:01.53), 11th in the mile (4:24.57) (10th excluding indoor performances) and 18th in the 3000 m (8:44.46).

National titles

* AAAs National Champion - 800 metres (1979) *AAAs National Champion - 1500 metres (1984) *AAAs National Champion - 3000 metres (1978, 1986) * UK National Champion - 1500 metres (1987)

International competitions

Note: At the World Cross Country Championships, representing England, Benning won three team medals, gold in 1974, bronze in 1978 and
silver in 1984.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benning, Christine 1955 births Living people Sportspeople from Manchester English female middle-distance runners English female cross country runners Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1986 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain Medallists at the 1978 Commonwealth Games