By Tom Bell

SCOTT Overall ran through a furnace to finish a brutal Olympic marathon on Sunday – and promptly set his sights on doing another as soon as possible.

The Blackheath & Bromley runner came home in 61st place on The Mall in central London having battled punishing heat on the roads of the capital.

If this was reflected in his time of 2hr22m37s, it was something which had been on his mind even before the race, won by Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda in 2hr08m01s.

“It was tough,” said 29-year-old Overall, whose fellow Brit Lee Merrien came 30th.

“My coach and I spoke beforehand about trying to run evens, with the conditions and things.

“I wanted to come through halfway in 65 or 66 minutes. I came through in 65.30 but even before halfway I was feeling like that was probably a little bit quick.

“I probably didn’t respect the conditions enough. I think I really suffered there on the last lap.”

The magnificent support which has pushed Great Britain athletes on to greater heights across the Olympic disciplines was again in evidence at the marathon.

But the danger was always that Overall would be driven along by the droves lining the streets and ignore what his body was telling him.

In the event, he paid for it.

“With the crowd, I said before the race it’s going to be tough to hold back when the crowd were so loud and were there shouting and cheering for the British guys,” he said.

“It’s one of those things to deal with.

“Obviously in hindsight I should have gone out slower.

“Those guys who did that – a couple of the Canadian guys and Lee – they went through slower at halfway then were stronger on the last lap.

“Everyone suffered on the third lap, even the leaders.

“I don’t think anyone could have paced that race easily at all.”

It was a world away from Overall’s run in Berlin last year to achieve the Olympic qualifying standard.

Keen to erase the struggles of his Games debut with a return to form, he realises he will have to wait.

Overall said: “This was the complete opposite to Berlin.

“I’d felt good in Berlin, felt strong.

“It was all about the time there and it wasn’t as hot as here, so I know there’s a lot more to come in terms of what time I can run in the marathon.

“It’s just that the marathon is one of those tough events where you do all the training then if it’s not quite right on the day you have to wait a while so you can do another one.

“I’m sure I’ll be back, I’m pretty sure I can run a decent marathon soon.”

Lloyds TSB, proud supporter of Team GB and proud partner of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Get closer to the Games at lloydstsb.com/london2012

Follow us on Twitter @NewsShopperSprt