The first bicycle racing at the ground was the Stockton Druids annual sports which was held on 19th July 1890 and included a one mile bicycle race, it was an exciting race in which AF Wilkinson of West Hartlepool narrowly beat RW Harrison of Middlesbrough. The meeting was well attended and a total prize money of £25 was competed for.
In 1891, Stockton Cycling Club constructed a track at the ground and built a club house. They held a sports meeting on 4th July 1891 in front of 3,000 spectators. The Stockton CC held its second amateur race meeting on July 2nd 1892 at the Victoria Grounds on a 5 laps to the mile grass track. The Stockton Old Castle CC and Stockton FC also organised a joint sports meeting at the ground in 1892, this meeting became an annual event.
In 1896 Stockton CC invested £10 in setting up a company called the Cleveland Cycling and Athletic Company to build a cinder track and run sports at Thornaby. The club moved its annual sports from the Victoria Ground to Thornaby for a short time and then moved back to the Victoria ground.
At the sports in 1900, Colonel Ropner** presented a trophy to the club, which was competed for in the one mile open bicycle race at the annual sports. The track was greatly improved in 1904 at the expense of Stockton CC and the football club. All three bicycle races in the 1904 sports were won by JT Russell. Evening sports meetings were held in 1906, but were quickly done away with because of the financial loss incurred.
The Stockton CC held their 17th annual sports on 3rd August 1907, which included three bicycle races. There were nearly sixty entries for their club half and one mile handicap races and J Swainston of Great Ayton won the open half mile and was second in the mile. The Rapner Cup one mile open scratch race was won by JT Russell, Darlington Wheelers in 2min 42sec. Russell won the Rapner Cup again in 1908, which became his own property after three consecutive victories.
At the Stockton CC annual general meeting in March 1911, it was reported that the club's financial position had deteriorated due to the large loss incurred in running the annual sports. The loss was put down to the dispute between the NCU and the AAA, which resulted in a low entry coupled with the bad weather at the sports. For the 1911 sports, a guarantee fund was put in place to avoid financial loss and a ticket purchase system was introduced, with a Royal Enfield bicycle as the prize. This resulted in a record profit year for the sports.
Stockton CC held their sport meeting in 1915, during the Second World War and made a profit of £60, which was donated to the Hospital Fund. A much reduced sports was held in 1916 and this was last bicycle racing to be held at the ground.
Stockton FC gave their ground to a greyhound racing promoter in 1946 in exchange for paying off the club's debts and a 99 year lease to continue playing football at the ground. The greyhound racing was held on a track around the outside of the football pitch, it was an un-registered or ‘flapper' track.
Stockton FC went bankrupt inn 1975 and housing was built on the site in an area now called Wembley Way.
** Robert Ropner was a German-British ship builder and Conservative MP who owned shipyards in Hartlepool and Stockton and by the 1880s he had one of the largest shipping lines in the world. Ropner was a generous benefactor to the people of Stockton and he donated his home, Preston Park as a park and museum to the town.
