COLD and rainswept Stubbington one week - hot and steamy India the next!

It's a tough life as a top-notch runner as Alton's Toby Lambert is finding out.

The 26-year-old braved close to freezing temperatures on Sunday to win the prestigious Stubbington 10km Road Race, then headed home to pack his bags and prepare to fly out to Mumbai on Wednesday for a marathon the next Sunday.

"I'm hoping the weather isn't going to be too hot out there," he said. "We're going to be staying in quite a good hotel so I'm not taking anything special food-wise out with me."

Lambert will be joining Winchester's Michaela McCallum, third at the Stubbington 10km, for the Standard Chartered Greatest Race on Earth.

Both Hampshire runners have been selected to represent Team GB in India for the 26.2-mile race - one of four marathons taking place in some of the world's most exotic cities, with a 1.5m dollar prize up for grabs.

The sports shop owner admitted he held himself back at Stubbington, despite running a personal best 30min 10sec for the 10km distance.

By the time the yellow-vested Lambert had covered the initial 2.5km from the start in Stubbington village and along the seafront to Lee-on-the-Solent, he had opened up a good 200m lead over the chasing duo of Stubbington's Mark Le Gassick and Andy Morgan-Lee from Southampton Running Club. It was then a case of how fast he could finish as conditions turned from cold and dry to cold and wet by the time the leaders swept by Daedalus airfield on the run in for home.

Lambert, who finished second last year behind Team Southampton's Angus MacLean with a winning time of 30min 46sec, crossed the finish line in an impressive 30:10 - a 63-second improvement on his time 12 months ago. "I felt I was running within myself," he said. "I haven't run a 10km race since last summer, but feel I am more than capable of going under 30 minutes."

The Alton Runner blew away the near 1,000-strong field, who coped with cold conditions which turned to rain by the time they arrived back at the finish in Stubbington.

In a tight finish, Le Gassick managed to hold off the more experienced Morgan-Lee with a ten-second gap to spare to place second in 31:49 and give Stubbington team honours on the day.

After Mumbai, Lambert is targeting the London Marathon with a view to making the British team for this summer's European Championship marathon.

If Lambert's performance was impressive, then so was that of Winchester's women in the female race. The club placed five runners in the first six, only Louise Perrio from Guernsey splitting the pack.

Lucy Elliott was a comfortable winner in 33:59 - which gave her ninth overall. Last year's winning ladies' time by Liz Hartney from Reading Roadrunners was 37:11!

Elliott is currently in the form of her life having recently joined Winchester from Shaftesbury Barnet, and represented Great Britain at the Spar European Cross-Country Championships in Tilburg, Holland, finishing 37th .

The 39-year-old British Masters international was making her return to a GB cross-country team for the first time since the 2002 World Championships.

Elliott finished a good minute and 14 seconds ahead of Winchester teammate Karen Hazlitt (35:13), with 39-year-old physio, Michaela McCallum, in third in 36:17.