The Austral Wheelrace is the world's oldest track race, and in December it returns to Melbourne for its latest edition. First run on the turf of the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1887, when the winner took home a grand piano, it is regarded by many as Australia's greatest track cycling event.

The Austral is a handicap race over 1500 m to 2000 m. The fastest riders start from scratch, while others get head starts of up to 250 m around the 250 m velodrome, so the whole field ideally converges in a frantic finish. It makes for some of the most unpredictable, crowd-pleasing racing on the calendar.

The Quest Ivanhoe Austral Wheelrace headlines four big days of track racing run by AusCycling at the Darebin International Sports Centre in Thornbury, including the Omnium and Madison National Championships and UCI C1, C2 and para-cycling events.

The event takes place on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people.