besanko was a junior nationals hurdles champion and competed in many athletics events before joining essendon. in the australian track & field championships, his best performances included a second-place finish in the 100 metres in 1976-77 and four successive top three finishes in the 200m, finishing second in 1978-79. he was also a member of the victorian team that won the 4 x 100 metres relay final in 1977-78, along with fred lehmann, peter van miltenburg and colin mcqueen. internationally, besanko represented oceania at the 1977 iaaf world cup in west germany and the 1979 iaaf world cup in canada. at both world cups he was a finalist in the 4 x 100 metres relays, placing seventh each time. his best individual performance at a world cup came in 1979, when he made the 200 metres final and finished eighth.