Background
Benning was born in Urmston, Greater Manchester, England.
Benning was born in Urmston, Greater Manchester, England.
She finished fifth in the 1500 m final at the 1977 World Student Games (Universiade) in Sofia in 4:09.7.
In the 1500 m, she represented Great Britain at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, finishing fifth in the final. She also broke the United Kingdom record in 1979, with 4:01.53. As of 2014, she still ranks in the United Kingdom all-time top ten for the mile.
In 1975, she was 18th.
In 1978, Benning was 12th at the World Cross Country Championships in Glasgow. In 1979, she broke Sheila Carey"s seven-year-old United Kingdom record in the 1500 metres, running 4:01.53 in Zurich.
The record would stand for five years. At the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki, she reached the 3000 metres final, finishing thirteenth in 8:58.01.
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, 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. At the 1987 IAAF World Cross Country Championships she finished 20th, her seventh top twenty finish in the event.
Then at the World Championships in Rome in September, she reached the 3000 m final for the second time, finishing 12th in 8:57.92.
On the United Kingdom all-time list (as of 2015) she ranks 12th in the 1500 m (4:0153) sixth in the mile (4:2457) and 12th in the 3000 m (8:4446).