Usain Bolt delivers
Franklin Field was packed to the rafters and beyond, with 54,310 fans inside the old brick walls on a spectacular spring day.
It was everything we hoped it would be. Franklin Field was packed to the rafters and beyond, with 54,310 fans inside the old brick walls on a spectacular spring day. Even when Usain Bolt just galloped across the infield on a warmup run, the place exploded.
And when Bolt came down the home stretch in the 4x100, anchoring Jamaica to a victory in a Penn Relays record time of 37.90 secods, the noise at Franklin Field was among the loudest you'll ever hear on 33rd Street.
If you didn't get to see the race, either in person or on TV, there's a video below that includes Bolt's portion of the 4x100. I don't know who shot it, but whoever it was had a field-level pass during the race. It's some great footage.
You'll also see some photos I took in attemtpt to capture just how massive the crowd was. The final image, taken by staff photographer Ron Cortes, is of Bolt waving to the crowd after his race. It's a fitting way to close out another year of Penn Relays coverage here on the blog.