There is a long history of bicycle racing at Harleston stretching over a hundred years and mainly centred on the Harleston fete and the Wilderness grounds.
The first bicycle racing at Harleston was at the Gala on 7th July 1874, when a one mile bicycle race was held, the first prize was one pound and there were four starters. In the evening, four thousand people enjoyed dancing to the band, there was an exhibition of a mechanical elephant and a ‘fine display of fireworks'.
The Harleston Bicycle Club was formed in 1877 and they held a road race for the club captaincy on 17th July 1879. The other local club, Waveney Valley Bicycle Club, held a challenge cup road race on 4th September 1879.
After a lull in local bicycle race activity, Harleston Cycling Club was formed in 1892. They organised their first race meeting for 1st September 1892 and secured a good entry, but on the day, it was found that the necessary permits from the AAA and the NCU had not been obtained, so the meeting was abandoned. The club re-organised the sports for the following week.
There were fairly frequent bicycle races during the 1890s and the sports usually included half, one and two miles bicycle handicap races. There were no bicycle races after the First World War until 1932 when the Harleston annual gala and sports increased in popularity and bicycle races for Harleston CC members and open events were promoted.
The sports meetings resumed after the Second World War and usually included four bicycle races, attendance at the sports was good, there were 4,000 spectators in 1950. The sports meetings continued on and off until 1979, which was the last time there was track cycling at Harleston.
