Toby Lambert
ALTON RUNNERS' Toby Lambert turned on the heat at a cold Stubbington 10km race with a blistering victory.
Lambert, who captured the previous Hampshire Road Race League event, November's Hayling 10, led from start to finish with a powerful display of front running.
By the time the yellow-vested Lambert had covered the initial 2.5kms 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 the 29-year-old sports shop owner 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.
Equally impressive was the form of Le Gassick who in a tight finish managed to hold off the more experienced Morgan-Lee with a 10 second gap to spare to place second in 31:49.
The second-place will have consolidated Le Gassick's lead at the head of the Hampshire Road Race League individual standings.
It was a good day all round for Stubbington, whose men won the team prize by placing five runners in the top 20. In fact, from a Hampshire Road Race campaign when Stubbington has struggled to field two men's teams, the men's B team finished fourth and a C team were sixth - almost unheard of riches.
Zippy Grice ran well for sixth place in 33:25, Dr Rawlins - John Rawlins - served up just what the doctor ordered with eighth in 33:50, Gordon Reid was 13th in 34:36, and Tor Duffin stormed home in 17th spot in a time of 34:37.
A field of 996 runners took part in the race, including a large contingent from Guernsey AC who had attended the Hampshire Cross Country Championships in Havant the day previously.
Despite the changeable weather, conditions were perfect for fast running along the flat 10km course with not too much wind for the runners to contend with.
Winchester's women dominated. The club placed five runners in the first six, with 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 team-mate Karen Hazlitt (35:13), with 39-year-old physio, Michaela McCallum, in third in 36:17.
McCallum will later this month be flying off to India to represent Team GB in Mumbai for Standard Chartered's Greatest Race on Earth.
The Greatest Race on Earth will see the best marathon teams from across the world compete for largest prize pool in athletics.
She will run the third leg of the event in Mumbai on January 15, with her three-team mates running in Nairobi, Singapore and Hong Kong. If the team records the fastest cumulative time, it will win a huge slice of the $1.5 million prize.
Back to Stubbington, and the Stubby ladies finished 12th behind winners Winchester, with Lauren Coates the best-placed home runner in 33rd with a time of 43:33. Lesley Harding and Janet Marshall finished together in 58th and 59th places, with Harding clocking 46:12 and Marshall 46:13.
The next event in the Hampshire Road Race League is the Christchurch-based Mad March Hare 20 on Sunday, March 5th.