Pain. Joy. Disappointment.
Mike Browne has experienced a range of emotions and contrasting fortunes during his relatively short Isle of Man TT career.
The Republic of Ireland rider bravely took his place on the grid in 2022 just over a month after suffering two broken ankles in a crash at the Cookstown 100 road races in Northern Ireland.
A year later he secured his first podium by finishing second to Michael Dunlop in Supertwins race one, then retired while leading race two and seemingly on course for a maiden victory.
Browne made his TT debut in 2019 but the cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 versions because of the Covid-19 pandemic meant he had to wait until 2022 to renew his acquaintance with the demanding 37.73-mile Mountain Course, a challenge he was determined to fulfil despite the agony of his double fracture.
“I was cleared to race about five days before but because of my injuries I had to ride the bike differently. I couldn’t do what I wanted to do with it,” said Browne.
“It was incredibly difficult to get through the two weeks with my injuries and we had to pull the plug in two or three nights’ practice as I was in too much pain.
“Before the TT I went to Glasgow to have laser treatment and was in the oxygen chambers, then during the two weeks of the event I had my legs in ice buckets to keep the swelling down.
“After a year of bad weather in 2019 and missing out through Covid I said to a few people that if I didn’t make it that year then I was packing it in, I was going to forget about it, but I made it and managed to get laps in, which was beneficial. Results wise, I wasn’t really thinking about that,” added the Cork man, who clinched a best finish of ninth in a Supersport race.
