HAYMARKET, Va. — They're not just brewing delicious, artisan beers at Haymarket's Farm Brewery. They're crafting some of the finest axe-throwing competitors on Earth. A large group of them is headed west next week to the World Axe Throwing Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
"It's about 400 throwers from around the world. Got people coming from Japan, Australia, Canada," says hatchet-throwing pro Suzie Murphy.
Murphy is the world's top-ranked female hatchet thrower, but in this sport, men and women compete as equals. There are no divisions divided by gender.
"It's a lot of finesse. A lot of technique," she said. "It's a lot of precision and focus."
Murphy met her husband through axe throwing. Now, their weekly league meetups forge both family ties and team camaraderie.
Mark Tennant is among the group of 12 pros who will represent northern Virginia in the championships.
"I caught on real quick. I've only been throwing competitively for about a year and a half and became pro last summer," he said. "I'm a little nervous just because I've never been there."
Another pro, David Cline just picked up the sport within the past few years after getting encouragement from his wife.
"[She] had to convince me to come out because in my mind at that time I didn't understand why somebody would want to throw a tool at the wall," he said with a laugh.
Now, several years later as one of the sport's top throwers, Cline is headed back to the world championships where he says everyone, despite their rankings, enters on equal footing.
"You walk in that door you know that anybody there at any time could throw a perfect game on you. Anybody there can beat you," he said.
ESPN2 will televise the championships finals at noon on Sunday, April 21.
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