Eventually some members of the club formed a company called the Leeds Cricket, Football and Athletic Club in 1889, with shares by public subscription, to organise and run sports meetings at a permanent location. A piece of land was secured on the Cardigan estate at Headingley, a suburb of Leeds, where a new stadium was built with both cricket and rugby pitches, a large pavilion and a cinder cycle track measuring one third of a mile around the cricket pitch. The ground was completed in the summer of 1890 and the cricket ground became the home of Yorkshire County Cricket Club, with Leeds St John's Rugby Club playing on the rugby pitch.
The Leeds Athletic Club sports were held at the new stadium on 2nd August 1890 in front of 7,000 spectators. The first bicycle race was a one mile handicap races for ordinaries and in the final, H Synyer of the Nottingham Boulevard BC was on scratch and gave away up to 160 yards on the field. By the last lap two riders were ahead of Synyer by thirty yards but with a rush Synyer surged and took victory by a length in 2m 44s. The two other bicycle events were two and three miles safety handicaps.
The LCF&AC attempted to promote bicycle racing at the ground and sought an amalgamated with the Leeds Harehills Cycling Club. A cycle race meeting was held on 6th September 1890, with £120 in prizes, but the amalgamation hit problems at the start when LCF&AC insisted that football ticket holders be admitted free to the event instead of paying 6d admission. The situation was resolved the following year when Leeds Harehills CC changed their name to Leeds Cycling Club and then amalgamated with LCF&AC.
The first venture of Leeds CC was to hold an evening meeting at the track on Wednesday 17th June 1891, there were 79 competitors, attendance was quite low because of poor advertising. At their second evening meeting, they had more success with a better attendance. The Leeds Athletic Club annual festival was held on 22 August 1891 with 600 entries and 5,000 spectators. The meeting suffered a loss of over £80, which was put down to the poor weather. JW Stocks of Hull won the 3 miles inter-club race and was third in the half and two miles races. The Leeds and District Amateur Cyclists' Association held a very successful meeting at Headingley on 5th September, 1891 with 800 entries and 12,000 spectators. The meeting included the West Riding three miles safety bicycle championship, which was won by AW Scott of York Star CC.
The evening bicycle race meetings, usually three meeting each summer, continued in 1892 and were very well attended. There were only three events, but the large entry and consequent number of heats ensured a full evening's sport.
By1892 the annual sports had attracted around 8,000 spectators and included half, one and two miles handicap races. Jack Stocks was a frequent visitor and prolific winner at Headingley and AW (Bert) Harris++ of the Polytechnic raced there.
The 1893 sports were held in aid of the Thornhill Colliery disaster and were attended by 20,000 spectators. The bicycle races were a one lap and a half mile scratch, half and one mile handicaps and a bicycle vs horse race. At the meeting, GE Osmond and RG Merry beat the track one mile un-paced tandem record posting 2m 14.8s on their Whitworth machine,
The cycling section of the LCF&AC complained at their 1894 AGM that, although the club had 1,200 full members, each paying a guineas annual subscription, not a penny of this money found it's way into the cycling or athletics sections. The cycle track was improved for 1895, with banking on the pavilion side. The annual sports and evening cycling and athletic meetings seemed to have ended by 1896.
The Leeds Athletic and Cycling Club started promoting bicycle races at Headingley in 1894 with Wednesday evening meetings which included half and one mile handicap races and a 130 yards running race. Five heats were needed for the bicycle races. The club also held their annual carnival, which, on 11th July 1896, included the professional mile and the amateur NCU mile championships. The annual carnival sports ran for the next ten years with good crowds, there were 5,000 spectators in 1903. For a video of the Headingley Carnival in 1902 click here.
The late 1890s and 1900s were busy times on the Headingley track with Leeds A&CC meetings, paced fifty mile time trial events, the Leeds Charity Carnival and evening meetings.
The Leeds City Tramway Employees held their first annual sports at Headingley on 20th September 1905. The meeting was well supported and the bicycle races were; a members one mile handicap race and half mile and one mile open races. At their ninth annual sports on 20th August 1913, the Tramways sports included a two miles cycle race for one legged riders of Yorkshire, which attracted seven competitors. The Tramways sports were held at Headingley until around 1920, after which they moved to Parkside, Hunslett.
Bicycle racing at Headingley was losing its popularity by the First World War, it did survive and in 1919 there was a Victory sports gala and Leeds Athletic Club ran their sports, but bicycle races there more or less fizzled out in the 1920s.
The track around the cricket pitch survived for many years, but eventually succumbed to spectator seating. Yorkshire County Cricket Club have owned the ground since 2005 and Headingley still hosts test matches.
++ Bert Harris turned professional in 1894 and was coached by Sam Mussabini (Harold Abraham's coach). Harris won several professional cycling championships and held the half and one mile national track records. During a race on Easter Monday 1897, Harris' wheel buckled and he struck his head on the track and died two days later. Tens of thousands of people attended his funeral.
