The tournament is owned and operated by AusCycling Victoria. Austral Wheel Race is Australia’s greatest cycling event. The tournament is held in Melbourne, riders are assigned handicaps according to ability over a series of heats. The final round is running over 2000m.
The first race in 1887 was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground over 3 miles (4800m), with a grand piano first prize. The winner in Australia that year was Harry Lambton at 210 yards.
Other venues in Melbourne for the race include the Exhibition Track, the North Essendon boardwalk, the Olympic Park Velodrome and the Brunswick, Coburg and Northcote stadiums.
Austral Wheel Race was a hugely popular and successful bicycle race at its peak. Records from the race’s early years confirm crowds in the tens of thousands, and race reports from those times testify to the excitement surrounding the race.
Cycling in Australia revolves around the Austral Wheel Race, and no other cycling event in the world is so rich in tradition. It is now a commonly told story, the story of the Australians themselves, as it has been repeated every year since 1887.
According to Wikipedia
