IAN Fisher swapped the winter cold of Yorkshire for the humid heat of Mumbai when he ran for Great Britain in the Standard Chartered Bank Mumbai (Bombay) Marathon.

Otley Athletic Club's star runner spent four days in India to try and acclimatise to the conditions.

The mid-day temperature was around 30c with 100 per cent humidity and in that heat Ian produced an excellent run to finished 34th in 2.28.06.

The conditions made sure he did not get close to his marathon personal best of 2.20.21.

He was the first non-african/non-asian to finish and was the fourth national runner back. The other 30 in front of him were all professional athletes from countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe and Zambia as well as the host nation India.

Ian said: "I ran it as a solid run only because of the conditions. Even runners from the other countries who are used to the heat found the conditions harder than usual. I was happy though as my run moved the team up one position to fifth place in the four race series."

This is a ground breaking event in the marathon calendar with teams of four competing in a series of four races for prize money.

The first two races were held in Nairobi and Singapore and the last in the series will be held in Hong Kong in February.

The series is staged in some of the toughest conditions going for marathon running with the high altitude in Nairobi and two of the most humid climates to be found in Singapore and Mumbai.

The Mumbai marathon took in some of the finest scenery of the former Bombay on the coastal route past the fabulous Chowpatty Beach and passing the Nehru Centre and the Mahalaymi race course.