The first sports meeting at the ground was on 3rd August 1891, there was a large attendance, but the entries were low. The sports included were running, high jump, long jump, quoits and a bicycle race over three miles, which was won by C Whisker. In this first year, Tee-To-Tum Athletic Club organised two more sports meetings with bicycle races and Tottenham Cycling Club held their 25 miles club handicap race.
There was an athletics and cycling meeting on 16th July 1892 which included a two miles bicycle handicap race. The Daily Chronicle of 12th September 1892, whilst reporting the sports meeting two days before, commented that the Tee-To-Tum Athletic and Cycling Club "with its various centres numbers some thousands of members." The meeting on 17th September included two bicycle handicap races over one and two miles. By the end of 1892, the Stamford Hill branch of the club had over two hundred members.
The Whit Monday 1893 sports attracted 4,000 spectators, but the press reported "the only matter for complaint was the bicycling track, which was in no way suited to the purpose, and caused three nasty spills during the afternoon." Sports meetings were held throughout 1893, which firmly established the popularity of the Tee-To-Tum ground. The Hackney Athletic Association held their sports on 16th September 1893, but one of the competitors, Frederick Beharrell, later found himself in court at the Old Bailey, charged with unlawfully attempting to obtain a gold watch and chain. Beharrell was a professional runner who passed himself off as an amateur, he was given fourteen days for fraudulent pretenses. The prosecution said in court that "there was very good reason to believe that the prisoner was in league with a number of bookmakers, who followed him to various race meetings and backed him against the amateurs."
The ground continued to hold regular sports meetings throughout the 1890s, these were well supported, often attracting 5,000 spectators. Although Tee-To-Tum was very popular, it did not attract many star riders, but was very popular at the grass roots level. This popularity was helped by number of working men's clubs in London that existed in the 1890s and the variety of sports that were included in the meetings. The club opened a gymnasium in 1898 and boxing matches became very popular.
Rosa Blackburn^^ rode at the ground in a women's race meeting on 31st August 1901 and she "took the lion's share of the prizes and rode in a very plucky fashion." Blackburn won the one mile ladies handicap off scratch from Misses Hogben, Jamison, Gaveth, Leslie and Mrs Ward, Blackburn also won the one lap time trial. In the three miles handicap, Blackburn and Anderson caught the field, but Anderson went wide and accidentally ran into the fence and crashed, Blackburn went on to win the race. Blackburn won again in the five miles scratch race, quite easily from Miss Leslie. The final event was a 'Daisey tandem pursuit race' which was won by Miss Blackburn and F James. Blackburn raced again at the track in October 1901 and May 1902. Mike Fishpool and Sheila Hanlon have written extensively on early women's track racing the UK.
The ground sometimes promoted running races over 25 miles, this distance was considered, at that time, to be the distance for a marathon race. The professional 25 Mile World running Championships were held at the ground on 23 September 1901 and Len Hurst was the winner in a world record time.
The ground often attracted very large crowds, there were 7,000 spectators at the 1902 August Bank Holiday athletic and cycling carnival. On 18th August 1902 there was an Olympic challenge race with England against a France. Riders from the 1900 Olympics competed, including Paul Bourotte (who won silver in the sprint) Paul Dangla, (world motor paced hour champion) and M Gentel.
Tee-To-Tum was involved in trying to set up a professional athletic union, a meeting was held at the ground on 28th June 1902 to this end, and JJ Atherton of Tee-To-Tum was elected as joint secretary to progress the formation of a union. The professional body came to nothing, like many other attempts before and after.
1903 was to be the last year that the track operated, but there was plenty of bicycle racing at the ground, the Easter holiday sports had an attendance of over 5,000 and the Good Friday meeting included three bicycle races, a two miles open handicap, a one mile youths handicap and a three miles newspaper boys race. There was also an August Bank Holiday meeting. The last bicycle race at Tee-To-Tum was on 17th October 1903, which included a 25 miles bicycle handicap race.
The 4½ acre Tee-To-Tum athletic ground was sold to the British Land Company in 1904 for £6,600 and the site was subsequently developed for housing in the area around Thorpe Road and Howard Road.
++ Oxford House in Bethnal Green was established by Oxford University in 1884 as a social and philanthropic movement to help people living in East London. It provided lodgings, clubs and bible studies for the poor and was manned by three or four resident Oxford graduates. Oxford House was a hub for the community and they provided clubs like the Excelsior hall and swimming baths, Hackney, Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets, Walthamstow, Mare Street, Hackney and Tee-To-Tum, Stamford Hill. Oxford House is still an arts centre and community hub for Bethnal Green.
** A teetotum is a small spinning top usually with an elongated spindle and a body marked with letters or numbers. It was used for gambling in the 18th and 19th centuries. Teetotum was a popular word in the 1890s, cafes and leaf tea suppliers used the name.
^^Rosa Blackburn was one of the leading British female track racing cyclists in the 1890s, she won four of the London six day races from 1897-1901. Miss Blackburn, together with Miss Jamieson, Mlle Gavette and Miss Anderson raced against each other on several occasions, Miss Blackburn also rode at the Aquarium. (See reference [583]).
