Payne began competing for Canada at the
1979 Pan American Games, where she won a bronze medal with the 4 × 400 metres relay team. In 1981, she was a member of the
Americas 4 × 400 metres relay team that took bronze at the
IAAF World Cup in
Rome. The following year, at the
Commonwealth Games, she won a silver medal with the Canadian team in the 4 × 100 metres relay, and was a 400 metres semi-finalist. Payne won a silver medal in the 200 metres, at the
1983 Universiade, and helped Canada win silver medals in both the 4 × 100 and 4 × 400 metre relays. That year, she also won a silver medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay at the
Pan American Games. She competed in the inaugural
World Championships two weeks earlier. At the championships, held in
Helsinki, she finished fifth in the
400 metres – the best performance by a non-European athlete in the discipline, breaking the existing
Commonwealth record with a time of 50.06. She also teamed up with her Canadian compatriots in the 4 × 100 and 4 × 400 metres relay events, where they finished fifth and fourth in the finals, respectively. At the
1984 Summer Olympics, held in
Los Angeles, Payne won a silver medal in the
4 × 400 metres relay with her teammates
Charmaine Crooks,
Jillian Richardson and
Molly Killingbeck. She also competed with her teammates
Angela Bailey,
Angella Taylor-Issajenko and
France Gareau in the
4 × 100 metres relay, in which the team also won a silver medal. She finished fourth in the individual 400 metres, establishing a new Canadian record (49.91). Payne helped the Canadian 4 × 400 metres relay team win a gold medal, and finished fourth in the individual 400 metres race, at the
1986 Commonwealth Games. In 1987, she won her second silver medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay at the
Pan American Games. A few weeks later, she reached the semi-finals of the 400 metres at the
World Championships, and along with Crooks, Killingbeck and Richardson, she took Canada to the fourth position in the 4 × 400 metres relay. The team reunited for the
1988 Summer Olympics in
Seoul, but failed to finish in the relay final. She was a semi-finalist in the individual 400 metres race. Shortly after the Olympics, she retired from track and field. ==Post career==