Marathon runners Scott Westcott and Lisa Weightman, distance runners Nikki Chapple and Jeff Hunt and race walkers Jared Tallent and Jess Rothwell have been ranked as the top of their field for 2009 within Oceania by pre-eminent statistics service All-Athletics.

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.{jcomments on}