Usain Bolt an able ringmaster for Nitro Athletics concept that delivered on promise to entertain

USAIN Bolt went straight from the track to the club last night, DJ-ing after a packed-out athletics tournament with dancers, flame throwers and disco.

Usain Bolt was always going to be the star turn at the Nitro Athletics in Melbourne.

• BIG INTERVIEW: The fastest man born to run
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ATHLETICS superstar Usain Bolt went straight from the track to the club last night.

Bolt was a special guest at Shane Warne’s Club 23 at Crown Casino.

Fans have uploaded video footage of him DJing at the popular club in the early hours of the morning.

Usain Bolt in action at Crown's Club 23

Bolt turns it up for the crowd.

Bolt also has stamina, reportedly partying till the early hours.

Bolt was spinning the decks to popular 2002 hit, ‘To the Wall’ by Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz.

There are reports of Bolt’s club-hopping throughout Melbourne with revellers on social media stating he was at other night hotspots Love Machine and Tramp.

His appearance at Club 23 came after the Nitro Athletics tournament.

They promised to put on a show, they promised something different and the new revolutionary teams event delivered.

More than 7000 people packed into Lakeside Stadium, something that has never happened for an athletics event in this town previously.

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There were dancers, flame throwers, disco music ... and some damn exciting athletic performances to go with it.

And there was a guy named Usain Bolt.

He emerged out of a tunnel at the start of the night doing his signature lightning bolt move with his All-Stars team. This was his kind of environment.

Usain Bolt was the star attraction at the Nitro Athletics in Melbourne.

His job for the first couple of hours was all about cheer leading in his role as captain given he wasn’t required in spikes until the final event.

While the presence of the world’s fastest man was clearly the reason most were in the house, in his absence some locals got the party started.

The first event to get people off their seats was the three-minute challenge.

Genevieve LaCaze ran first for Australia and when the clock on the big screen hit a minute to go she took off, putting a space in her rivals.

The idea of the event is that her teammate, Luke Mathews, then takes over from the spot where she is when the countdown clock hits zero.

Gregson milks the applause running home to win the mixed distance medley for Australia.

One of the main selling points of the event was to showcase athletes outside their comfort zones in the different events and Wilson, a world championship silver medallist, looked like he’d never run a 400m race in his life.

Throughout the build-up, Bolt had promised something different with his captaincy.

And he delivered even before the starter’s gun was fired to kick off proceedings.

Rather than run his usual final leg in the mixed 4x100m relay, the star of the show decided to run the second leg along the back straight.

That meant rather than running against Australia’s fastest kid Jack Hale, he was lined up against schoolgirl Riley Day.

The 16-year-old from Beaudesert took the first two weeks off her Year 12 studies to represent Team Australia.

But we’re tipping she wasn’t expecting a showdown with the greatest sprinter in history.

The fans turned out in numbers for the Melbourne event.

While the Bolt All-Stars Kenyan Elijah Kipchirchir quickly made up the gap, it set up an enthralling two-man war.

And Mathews did it beautifully, waiting until the clock hit 30 seconds before taking off with the crowd rising as one as he did.

They screamed their heads off as Mathews kicked and held their breath until the clock wound down and he was still in front.

New concept, new event. Big tick.

“It’s one of the more unique races I’ve done,” Mathews said.

The crowd weren’t the only ones into it, you couldn’t wipe the smile off the athletes faces either.

Alex Hartmann finished third in the 150m and also went up against Bolt in the 4x100m mixed relay.

“The atmosphere here is crazy, obviously there’s never been anything like this before,” he said.

“The crowd pumps you up and, you know to race world beaters ... I don’t know what to say.”

Usain Bolt held centre stage even before he put on his running spikes.

The quietly spoken Queenslander revealed he’d even got up the courage to have a crack at the Jamaican superstar in the lead-up.

“There’s been a bit of trash talk going on between Bolt and everyone so that’s been good,” Hartmann said.

“It’s definitely going back and forth, we are giving it back to him.

“I was doing a run through and he was throwing crap at me so I said, ‘Looks like your man Michael Frater is limping a bit there’.

“And he goes, `What? What? And looked real worried. Then I gave him a nudge and a grin.”

Morgan Mitchell, who tasted victory in both the mixed distance medley relay and the 2x300m relay, described the atmosphere as “overwhelming”.

“Every time we start out there, it’s like ‘Guys look at this’. It’s very different but I’m loving it.”

It also helped that Australia dominated early and the Bolt All-Stars eventually warmed up after a very slow start.

They started to get moving after former world record holder Asafa Powell blitzed the 60m event with ridiculous ease.

Then young Western Australian Matthew Ramsden, who was added to Bolt’s team after missing Australian selection, held off local hero Jeff Riseley to take victory in an epic elimination mile event that was another concept to get a big tick.

That was all an entree, Bolt was the main course.

Adding intrigue to his appearance was the fact that the eight-time Olympic champion decided to run the second leg and not last.

So instead of lining up against Australia’s fastest kid Jack Hale, he was running against Team Australia’s baby — 16-year-old Riley Day.

And that went as expected.

Powell burst from the blocks and got it to Bolt with a significant lead. He exploded down the back straight and the rest of the field were hardly in vision.

There had been a lot riding on the night.

Athletics around the world is losing traction with crowds down and broadcasters less inclined to get involved even in previous strongholds across Europe.

Michelle Jenneke wins the 100m hurdles.

Nitro looms as its saviour just like Bolt has been the sport’s saviour over the past eight years.

His backing of the concept has been critical with athletics desperate for a TV-friendly fast paced product that appeals to everyone, not just the purists.

Athletics Australia came up with the teams concept and new board member John Steffensen went and got Bolt thanks to his long-time friendship built over years together on the circuit.

The aim was to do what cricket did with 20/20, serve up something different, change the events, jazz them up and capture attention.

To do all that they needed Bolt.

Since arriving on Wednesday the eight-time Olympic champion has been a one-man publicity machine and Melbourne’s sports fans got the message.

Channel Seven wheeled out Bruce McAvaney for the occasion with the telecast going around the world into England, the US, China, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Africa, Indonesia and India.

This was big news and it wasn’t just because Bolt is big news.

It was a new dawning of athletics, it was something different, it was a night that mattered.

And it got a big tick.