While the Isle of Man TT is undoubtedly fraught with risk, it turns out you don’t even need to crash to come away from the fearsome event nursing a major injury.

That’s what competitor Mark Parrett found to his cost during the second Superstock TT race when he suffered a broken arm caused by an errant seagull failing to get out of the way in time.

A veritable veteran of the TT, Parrett was making his 98th start on the Mountain when his race came to an abrupt end at the 33rd Milestone after making contact with the seagull.

Noticing something was wrong when he couldn’t pull in the clutch, Parrett swiftly pulled off before taking a trip to hospital, where doctors confirmed a broken arm.

A painfully ironic incident for a rider named ‘Parrett’, the incident has put him out for the remainder of the event, thus denying him the chance to notch up his 99th and 100th race start in the Supertwin TT and Senior TT races he was also entered.

“Friday afternoon the sun was shinning and that had the Mark Parrett Racing team out on circuit once again with the C&C Ltd S1000RR for Superstock Race 2 over three laps,” a post on social media read.

“Mark’s 98th TT Race start went to plan, however the race finish did not.

“A local seagull lay in wait for ‘The Parrett’ on the approach to the 33rd and hit Mark on the left arm, he soon realised that it was rather serious when he tried to pull in the clutch and his left hand wasn’t working.

“He safely exited the course at The Creg and was attended to quickly by the Marshalls and air lifted to hospital for an x-ray and had the arm out in cast.“So the Reckle55 Racing / Mccrum's Motorcycles RS660 and TT Race start 99 was not to be there’s always next year.”