ANDY Patterson owes his Ironman success to a good Samaritan and his wife.

The Bolton triathlete was about to pull out four days before the event due to injury before his wife Michelle told him he should try.

And then a broken chain almost put paid to any hope he had of completing the course until a mystery helper fixed it for him.

Patterson, a 31-year-old accountant, was most of the way through the 112-mile bike ride when his chain went.

Without a clue how to fix it he thought his race was over.

"Somebody helped me get back on the bike and I wouldn't have been able to carry on if it wasn't for him," he said.

"I have no idea who it was. I would like to thank him because without him I wouldn't have done it.

"He was just a random person walking past when it happened – he wasn't even a spectator. He just stopped and fixed it for me.

"We shortened the chain and I only had one gear from then on.

"I had to do the last 22 miles including up Hunters Hill in one gear which was pretty nasty, but I did it thanks to him."

It wasn't the only problem he encountered both before and during the event, which is described as the ultimate sporting challenge.

He suffered a bad injury just over a week before which meant he could not ride a bike.

And when you've got a 112k bike ride a few days later – never mind a 2.4-mile swim and a marathon run – it is not the kind of problem you need.

He saw a physio on the Saturday and the Wednesday after, which he felt his chances of the injury withstanding the test were small.

It would a devastating blow to the Bolton Triathlon Club member who had to pull out of last year's Ironman ahead of the event due to injury.

"I had a couple of bad injuries and the prognosis was I had torn my quad muscle," said the father-of-two, who lives in Edgworth and is one of the race directors at the Bolton parkrun, which takes place at Leverhulme Park every Saturday morning.

"I couldn't cycle and I had pretty much decided to pull out on the Wednesday when my Michelle told me to do it.

"She said it's been a long year of training and I might as well give it a go.

"I did and I did it, which is unbelievable.

"The outside of my knee went one mile into the run as well so I had to hobble round the run.

"But I did it and came home in 14 hours and 28 minutes."

After having so many obstacles to overcome it would be understandable if he had no intention of ever going near an Ironman event again.

"I won't be doing it next year but maybe the year after," he said.