Westcott, Weightman, Chapple, Hunt, Tallent and Rothwell top 2009 rankings
Westcott and Weightman were the male and female marathon runners of the year respectively, whilst Hunt and Chapple topped the list in the road running category and Tallent and Rothwell the race walking category.All-Athletics' rankings are determined through a point score which combines the quality of the performance (via the IAAF scoring tables) and the finishing place in the event, weighted according to how important the competition is.
A minimum of two performances are required in the marathon category and three in the road running and race walking categories.
World marathon majors champions Samuel Wanjiru and Irina Mikitenko were named the world marathon runners of the year, whilst Kenyan pair Bernard Kipyego and Mary Keitany took out the road runner category and world champions Valeriy Borchin and Olga Kaniskina the race walking category.
A full list of continental leaders across these categories are available from All-Athletics.
Comments
This Number 1 Oceania ranking for him is well deserved.
Both world champs performances were relatively slow so not a huge difference in the points and 21st doesn't get any points for placing.
It's interesting that Jeff was ahead of both Marty and Shelley in the road running category... my thinking is that Shelley's City to Surf perhaps wasn't counted as it isn't an event held under the rules or auspices of the IAAF, or otherwise doesn't get many placing points and loses points for being point to point and net downhill and a non standard distance. There's more detail about how they calculate the scores here: www.all-athletics.com/en-us/rules-all-athletics-world-rankings-2009-road-running