Author Alex Hutchinson

  Eighteen hours of driving can take a toll. The car ride from Massachusetts to Georgia was brutal with melting sun the first day and endless rain on the second. Had I not been sick the whole way down, it might have been more tolerable but that was my choice. I was going to compete no matter what! Atlanta, Georgia has become an amazing city since I last visited 30 years ago. The skyline is striking, the food is remarkable and the streets are reasonable to navigate. The Works Upper Westside neighborhood where American Axes is located was particularly appealing. Full of eateries and small parks this area was a fun stop for getting drinks or to watch my girl Iris throw down at the Hatchet Marathon. The Hatchet Marathon was just one of a number of side events to keep throwers busy and amused. There was also a cash tournament, a women's tournament and a throw with the Pro's clinic. That last one was kinda redundant because to throw with a pro all you had to do was show up at almost ...

The WATL Amateur Championships have announced their tournament contenders and it is an impressive bunch. Your ambitious author has received a bye into the second stage. This will be the first National that I have ever competed in. Seems crazy that out of all my years bouncing around different sports I have never taken part in anything larger than a state championship. This will be a first and I love firsts. Having dreamt about this since I was a kid you can only imagine the intricate training I had in mind to prepare for such a momentus occasion. Hear the rising Rocky music in the background as I blister away the hours killing shots and evaporating the cottonwood into splinters. I would break all my personal records and amaze my friends at League with how far I have come... well... that's not quite how it happened. All of those plans came to a screeching halt when I got sick. Sick enough to miss three days of work. Then my car needed a brake job and suspension work. Then my mother ...

I once attended a mountain bike race where a former Professional road cyclist showed up and blew the doors off all the mountain bikers. Since he wasn't a mountain bike racer, he technically could race at the amateur level. We all knew it was bullshit! This was a blatant crack in the rules. These things can happen in any sport. A few months ago a Pro level Axe Thrower made a comment about me that I found fascinating. He said, "Alex is too good to be an Amateur." Luckily he said this to a friend of mine who replied, "Alex has only been throwing since January so he is an Amateur. He's just a really good one." While I appreciate my friend sticking up for me, that made me wonder, what does it mean to be an Amateur in the sport of Axe throwing? With the WATL Amateur Championships coming quickly this is a legitimate question that many people will be asking. So how do we break it down? We all know someone who is really good at throwing but never made it to that next...