The Bristol Mercury of 16th April 1881 announced "A new bicycle track is announced to be opened on Monday at Eastville near the Tramway terminus, when £100 will be offered in prizes. Two hundred competitors have entered", admission six pence. The oval track was 18 feet wide, measured six laps to the mile and had wooden railings on both sides of the track to stop the crowd interfering with the cyclists. The was also a grandstand and a bridge over the track which enabled spectators to safely cross to the track centre.
The stadium was managed by S Plucknett, who organised and ran bicycle racing at the ground. Plucknett was a bicycle manufacturer who had offices in Cheltenham Road, Bristol and a showroom, works and a riding school at Cheltenham Vale. He put a lot of energy and money into establishing the ground for bicycle and running races.
There were lots of bicycle races in 1881, the year that the track opened. On 14th May 1881 there were bicycle and foot races including a professional match race over ten miles between T Garner of Bristol and GT Edmund of Cardiff. On 3rd June 1881 there was a three miles professional handicap race included JV Plucknett, a professional from Bristol, who came third. On Whit Monday 1881 there was an athletics festival at which Bradley Keen** and GT Edmund were competing. On 22nd Aug 1881 there was a match race over 30 minutes between Nicholas Cox and J Trebilcocks for £30 and on 31st Dec 1881 there were three hour professional and amateur races.
Stapleton Athletic Club started to hold sports meeting from 1882 and the Stapleton Bicycle Club held a meeting on 29th May 1882 with a 2 miles novices handicap, 1 and 3 miles open handicap races, but the attendance was poor. There also wresting matches at the ground in 1882. During the winter of 1885, the ground was frozen and people went ice skating there.
The Gloucester Citizen reported on the Good Friday 1887 meeting at the ground "The track was so bad that several bicyclists refused to ride". There were also ugly scenes in a running race when some competitors were jostled and assaulted and the police had to intercede.
Athletic meetings and bicycle racing were popular at the ground until the late 1880s, but after 1887 bicycle racing stopped, clubs preferring to use the Zoological Gardens and later, the County Ground, which opened in 1889.
** The Worcestershire rider Arthur ‘Bradley' Keen was placed second in the British professional 20 miles championship in 1878.