YOU would be mad to want to run another gruelling 26.2-mile course in the sweltering Brazilian heat moments after crossing the finish line the first time.

But such was the euphoria Alyson Dixon felt having completed the Rio 2016 women’s marathon that this was her standpoint.

The 37-year-old from Sunderland, appearing in her first Olympic Games, crossed the line in 2:34.11 hours to finish 28th in a race won by Kenya’s Jemima Sumgong.

Dixon and team-mates Sonia Samuels worked together after a conservative start to slowly progress their way through the field and reel in their competitors.

And with both finishing in the top 30 it was a case of job done for the pair, with Dixon insisting she is unlikely to experience anything like her time running out in Rio again.

“I was expecting it to be an amazing experience but that was just totally unreal. Everything I expected and more,” she said.

“The crowds were absolutely amazing, so many people with Union Jacks shouting your name, I even had a few ‘come on Sunderland’s’ so it really lifts you.

“I didn’t really go through that much of a bad patch until the last 800m when my calves started to cramp but at that point you have finished and you come into this stadium and you are lifted again.

“Coming 28th is round about where I expected to be, I set myself targets and to make the top 30 was one of them so I am really pleased.

“I ran it really well and felt controlled in the first half even though it was quite fast. I still felt like we were jogging but it was just absolutely amazing.

“I knew there would be casualties, there were people on the side of the road and you could see them from as early as about ten miles out, they were just coming back to us.

“You can use that as your momentum and it is a really good course just to get into a rhythm. Coming towards the end it gets a bit twisty-turny and that breaks your rhythm but the crowds were enormous and it was fantastic, I want to go and do it again.”

Aldi is the first Official Supermarket partner of Team GB and has been championing our nation’s extraordinary athletes on their Road to Rio and encouraging the public to tuck into fresh, affordable, Great British food. For more information visit aldi.co.uk