OLYMPIC hero Jason Kenny may be enjoying the glory of winning — but he and his cycling team-mates owe part of their success to the efforts of another Bolton man.

While the cyclists are preparing their minds and bodies for competition on the track, mechanic Mark Ingham is ensuring their state-of-the-art cycles are in tip-top condition and will not let them down.

Mr Ingham, who was born and raised in Little Lever, is one of two full-time mechanics in Beijing employed by British Cycling to keep the bikes on track.

After a marathon effort to ensure this summer's Olympic success, 34-year-old Mr Ingham flies home on Friday to wife, Karen, who he has been keeping in regular touch with by phone.

Mrs Ingham said: “He is shattered now but the whole team has been buzzing.”

Mr Ingham, a former Little Lever School pupil, has spent his working life involved with cycling after developing an interest in the sport as a teenager.

He rode with Horwich Cycling Club and worked at Partington Cycles in Great Moor Street, Bolton, and Pilkington cycles in Bury.

In his spare time he volunteered as a mechanic with the British team based at the Manchester Velodrome until funding became available six years ago and he was one of six mechanics taken on full- time.

Ever the professional, Mr Ingham could not show favouritism when it came to preparing the bikes for fellow Boltonian Jason and Salford-based Scot, Chris Hoy, in their nail-biting sprint final in Beijing.

“He just treated it like any other event and kept focused,” said Mrs Ingham.

Although all the attention will be on the medal winners when they return to Britain, Mr Ingham will have a quiet satisfaction in the role he played in the historic achievement.

No major celebrations are planned at the Coppull home he and Mrs Ingham moved to four years ago.

“We'll just be getting back to the same old stuff. We are going out with friends at the weekend,” said Mrs Ingham.

His dinner table stories, though, are bound to be interesting.