About 30 of the most talented axe throwers in Western Canada were in Lethbridge over the weekend looking to chuck their way into a national championship.
While anyone could sign up for this high-level competition, most competitors, including Allen and Sherry Silvaggio, started throwing for fun.
The winner of the tournament receives a few hundred dollars and a berth at the axe-throwing nationals in Toronto next year.
More than 1,000 of the world’s best throwers will be vying for more than $16,000 at the National Axe Throwing Championships.
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Those who practise the hobby regularly say it isn’t hard to learn.
“Anyone can come and be competitive, whether you’re a 12-year-old throwing an axe for the first time or our oldest person who has ever come here is 84,” True North Axe Throwing owner Tanner Kenney said. “As long as you kind of have a little bit of fine motor skills, you are able to go chuck an axe.”
Allen and Sherry said they only started throwing axes about a month ago as a way to bond. Now, they say they play every week.