[1] The race attracted the top riders from Australia and New Zealand as well as Frenchmen Paul Chocque and Fernand Mithouard and Italian Nino Borsari.

[n 1] The Australian riders included Opperman, Richard "Fatty" Lamb, Ossie Nicholson, Hefty Stuart, Ern Milliken, Horrie Marshall and Ken Ross.

Also competing were riders who would come to prominence in the following years, including Alan Angus, Dean Toseland, Clinton Beasley and Bill Moritz.

[4] Nicholson had been suspended for 12 months for interfering with a rider making a record attempt but was able to have the suspension lifted in time to ride.[5].

[6] The New Zealand riders were Harry Watson, who had finished 2nd in the 1927 Dunlop Grand Prix, Len Hill and Alby Ralston.

The organisers however expressed concern that only a small number of riders could win in a scratch race and that the Sydney to Melbourne championship race had been ridden at a low speed of 15.7 mph (25.3 km/h), "was a contest of tactics, not of speed and endurance" and that there was "loafing by the whole field of riders over many miles" of the final stage.

[14] The size of the championship prize was at the instigation of Sidney Myer who gave a gold cup valued at 100 guineas to go with the £500 provided by the Centenary Council.

In addition to punctures, there was a crash at a railway crossing a few miles from Penshurst involving Nicholson, Joe Buckley and Bill Brewer.

[16] Chocque was in the lead at the Ballarat sprint when he was struck, causing him to crash, breaking his collarbone, forcing him to abandon.

[22] Stuart slipped his chain just a few miles from the finish, but managed to regain the group and won the sprint by inches.

[23] Stage 4 on Wednesday 24 October 1934 covered 156.75 miles (252.26 km) was the first time in which an A Grade rider beat the handicap to finish first.

[26] The stage however was interrupted with a torrential downpours of rain hail and sleet and the race was suspended at Mount Buffalo, after covering around 90 miles (140 km).

[27] The ride from Wangaratta to Mount Buffalo was not counted in either the championship or the handicap events so the overall standings remained as per Stage 4.

Opperman's account of the stage included that "On the morning we left the Chalet the instructions to the riders were changed four times in half an hour.

At first we were to be controlled down the hill, then the field were to be allowed to use their own discretion, and race down, and these instructions were cancelled and altered until no one felt sure exactly what was the case.

[30] Mithouard had punctures and falls, one of which injured his leg, broke a wheel and spent 15 minutes waiting for a replacement.

[30] In addition to Mithouard there were numerous falls, including Jack Beasley, who fell into a flooded creek and had to be saved from drowning by another rider, Harry Woolrich and the New Zealander Len Hill had severe falls with Woolrich being put into the hospice at Hotham Heights, Borsari cut his hand and Opperman also cut his hand requiring stitches, which he refused until after the stage.

[11] In the championship Cruise had a few minutes lead over Watson and stayed in the safety of the bunch, keeping out of trouble in the sprint around Como Park.