On the first stop of their 2020 Australia tour - and the first Leap Day fixture in their history - Nitro Circus performers wowed onlookers at the Mars Stadium on Saturday evening.
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There were officially 8300 spectators, filling most of the stadium seats as well as a rows of seats laid out on the grass and the grass bank at the side.
Organisers said they were happy with the crowd given the challenges facing the tourism industry at the moment.
The Courier spoke to several onlookers who had come from different points around the state, often a good drive away - which was what the organisers had anticipated.
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Mel Partington had come up from Point Cook in Melbourne with her children, including three-and-a-half year old twins Quinn and Ashton.
"They love it, the boys are all bike and scooter obsessed," she told The Courier in the half time interval.
Watching the show from the grassy bank, Kylie Price had travelled down from Ararat to watch the action with two boys, Dylan and Jayden.
"It's been awesome, really good,: she said. "It's great you don't have to travel all the way to Melbourne to see something like this."
The event they came to see was a first for the stadium, which Nitro Circus promoters have been eyeing as a potential venue for several years.
Full of razzamatazz, spectacle and slick presentation, it took place in the centre of a ground much more used to high-profile sporting occasions. The thrills and spills passed off almost without mishap, although one of the athletes suffered a suspected broken arm after a run down the ramp on one of the outlandish contraptions used to entertain the crowd.
Among onlookers, a St John Ambulance worker reported a quiet afternoon with a few minor problems caused by the strong afternoon sunshine on the last day of summer.
The Nitro Circus marketing manager Nathan Brown said it was great start to their 2020 tour and said paid tribute to the behind-the-scenes work by carried out by council to help make it happen.
"We'd just like to thank the city of Ballarat for hosting us," he said.
"We were really stoked to finally get a show in Ballarat away."
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