Throwers kick axe at tournament
COMPETITORS AIM FOR BERTH IN NATIONALS
Axe throwers from all over Western Canada and the Northwestern United States gathered Sunday afternoon at True North Axe Throwing in Lethbridge for the western regional tournament where the top thrower received a berth to the National Axe Throwing Championships in Toronto.
Around 30 competitors sharpened their axe blades and stretched their throwing arms to compete in a double elimination knockout tournament. In five rounds, two competitors try to score the most points on the target board to knock out their opponent for top place.
“This is the western regional in the National Axe Throwing Federation, so all of Western Canada and Northwestern United States, where the best competitors from that region gather once a year for a tournament that guarantees the winner an automatic berth to Nationals in Toronto,” says Tanner Kenny, True North Axe Throwing owner.
“There is a bit on the line, you get some of the best axe throwers here such as the previous national winner is competing here today, so the competition here is really good.”
True North Axe Throwing has only been open for a year-and-a-half, and has made a big enough impression through community support and awareness that NAFT offered them to host the tournament, opposed to bigger venues.
“We are the first location outside of Battle in Calgary to be hosting it and having it in a smaller market area is awesome,” says Kenney. “The good thing about it in Lethbridge is that there is a lot of community support and they have backed us. . . people really supported us in getting us involved which is why we were asked to be hosting such a big tournament here. Since we have only been doing it for a year-and-a-half, if we can show that we are able to compete now, I can only imagine how far we are going to be in another year from now.”
Axe throwing has grown in popularity over the last few years, with more than 4,500 league members in over 55 cities and seven countries. The competitive sport may seem aggressive, but it’s a sport that doesn’t require a lot of natural skill or athleticism to participate in.
“The thing that I like about it is that it is an individual sport and it doesn’t take much natural skill to get good at it,” says Kenney. “Anyone can come and be competitive whether you are a 12-year-old throwing an axe for the first time, or our oldest person that we have had here was 84. As long as you have a little motor skills you can throw an axe and you eventually get a little competitive with it.”
Allan Silvaggio and his wife Sherry discovered the sport when they decided to try something different for their wedding anniversary and ended up trying their new favourite activity. Winning the regional tournament was not their main goal of the day, but spending time with like-minded people and having fun was.
“I like the competitiveness, because you can be competitive or you can come to just hang out and have fun,” says SIlvaggio. “A lot of people think that it is really hard to throw an axe but its really not that hard. To get a little more accurate can be a little challenging but other than that once you figure out what you are doing, you are going to hit that bulls-eye a lot more than you think. It is a good way get out of the house, away from the kids, clean fun where no one gets hurt unless you get hit by an axe, but that hasn’t happened yet.”
Individuals threw their way through other competitors in the regional tournament to be ranked in the National Axe Throwing Federation, and one lucky competitor will be heading to Toronto in February for the National Axe Throwing Championship to throw against the best of the best from around the world. For more information on axe throwing in Lethbridge, visit truenorthaxe.com.
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