Local axe thrower earns Finals berth

By Lethbridge Herald on February 2, 2023.

Herald photo by Justin seward Austin Campbell of Lethbridge’s True North Axe Throwing concentrates on a shot during a fun tournament in the afternoon after winning the IATF Regional tournament for the West Region earlier in the day on Sunday. Campbell will now head to the IATF Finals in Toronto in June.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

Lethbridge’s Austin Campbell is making his second consecutive trip to the International Axe Throwing finals  after winning the western regional event at True North Axe Throwing on Sunday.

Campbell beat Jordan Burton in six rounds (4-2) to claim the tournament.

He also beat Spencer Robinson in the quarterfinals in five rounds (3-2) and Nick Kolomyja in the semi-final 4-3 to advance to the final.

“Pretty good,” said Campbell. “Like I’ve been working a couple years now for it, putting 15-20 hours a week in, and honestly it feels good to take a win here for True North — especially in our home venue. Typically in the past, none of us have won it. So it feels good to actually bring it home for us.”

Campbell thought the competition was insane.

“ … I’d argue one of the most competitive venues in the world,” said Campbell.

Campbell, with the win, earned a direct trip to the Finals p in Toronto in June, whereas last year he had to go to other qualifiers and snuck in as the fourth seed for True North.

He’s hoping for a top 10 performance after finishing 49th last year.

There were 15 axe throwers from both the Red Deer and Lethbridge True North Axe Throwing locations, and Calgary.

“With premier ruleset, they do a thing called no bleed points,” said Robinson, who is manager of Lethbridge True North Axe Throwing. “So what that is if you’re axe blade bleeds into a smaller point value, even by a hair, you’re going to get the lower score on that.”

A bullseye was worth five points, red ring was worth three points and the outer blue is one point.

The rectangle inside of the circle were the points to hit for the premier rules.

“You have to break the top and bottom plain of the black lines of the rectangles while keeping it within the parameters — the one-inch of the diameter of the rectangle,” said Robinson.

The round robin was best three out of five and the semifinals to the finals was best four out of seven.