The cricket club held their first annual sports on 2nd July 1881 and included an amateur bicycle handicap race which had eight competitors in two heats. Local man A Winpenny came first and won a ‘fine field glass' and second placed WG Younghusband of Darlington won a bicycle lamp. The sports became known as The Cricket Club Athletic Festival and on 8th July 1882 there were two one mile bicycle handicap races, the first for members of Teesdale Wanderers Bicycle Club and the second, open to all amateurs.
The annual sports continued and from 1886, the North Eastern Cyclist Meet was held each Whitsun, with activities taking place over for four days. The meet soon became popular and by 1887, 24 clubs were represented, with a total of 214 cyclists, who rode in procession from Galgate, led by the host club, Teesdale Wanderers BC. The sports were held on the cricket field and both bicycle races were won by G Carter of the North Ormesby CC and the day finished with a dinner at Witham Hall.
In 1889 the racing included a boneshaker Derby race in which six riders rode their old machines in a race over one lap, which was won by J Tunnah of Clarence CC. Entertainment started to be provided and in 1890 Monsieur Silvain's quartet of young lady bicyclists performed at the meet.
The bicycle events at the meet were half and one mile open handicap races and by 1891 the prize for the one mile race was increased to 14 guineas. In 1893, the Newcastle Journal reported that the Barnard Castle Cricket Club "cycling track has been re-laid and the surface is now in excellent condition. This is strange because there is no record of a cinder track at the cricket club and all the bicycle racing is assumed to be on grass.
In 1901, about 500 wheelmen took part in the procession and thousands lined the route through the town, the sports attracted 3,000 spectators. The meets and associated sports continued to 1907 and then lapsed for a few years, but were revived in 1914 and continued to be held after the First World War ended.
The meet continued through the 1920s and 30s, getting more popular each year, a large number of excursion trains were run to the town and by 1939, all the accommodation in the town was booked up and twelve thousand cyclists attended the event.
After the Second World War, the North Eastern Cyclist Meet moved to Alnwick and was held there until the end of the 1950s. There seemed to be no more bicycle racing at Barnard Castle after this.