JERSEYVILLE - Dan Brynildsen, owner of Riverbend Axe Throwing and a top-10 axe-throwing world champion, competed in and hosted a series of major axe-throwing competitions last weekend at Riverbend Axe Throwing’s Jerseyville and East Alton locations.
Things kicked off last Friday, April 8 with a “big axe” throwing tournament at the Jerseyville location. Tyler Flynn, an axe thrower from Ohio, won the first-place prize of $600; cash prizes were paid out from places first through sixth. Josselyn Allen, a 14-year-old Jerseyville resident, tied for ninth place, beating several highly-ranked axe throwers in the process.
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The tournament continued on Saturday in East Alton with hatchet and knife throwing competitions. Flynn also won the hatchet competition’s first-place prize of $800; cash prizes were paid to places first through eighth, and Brynildsen won fourth place in the competition.
On Saturday night, Austin Bock won the knife-throwing tournament’s first-place prize of $250; cash prizes were paid to places first through third.
Throwers competed in “duels” on Sunday, a competition wherein two people try to “split the bullseye” by throwing their hatchets as close to the bullseye as possible without hitting each other’s hatchets and knocking them off the board. Lucas Johnson and Ian Malpass split the $600 first-place prize; cash prizes were paid to places first through fourth.
In total, Brynildsen said about $5,700 was paid out in cash prizes.
Overall, he said he was impressed with the turnout and performance of his fellow competitors.
“Our Riverbend team had a really good showing … we had 100 of the best hatchet throwers in the world here for this tournament - and I am ranked in the top 10 in the world, so to finish that well amongst some of the best throwers around was very fun,” Brynildsen said. “All of our league members who participated did very well, some had new personal bests.”
Brynildsen also said it was great to bring in people from around the country to see Riverbend Axe Throwing, and the Riverbend itself.
“It was really cool to bring in a lot of those top-level throwers here to our venue, but also just to our area - and I know a lot of them explored the area and went up to Grafton and went to the St. Louis Zoo and enjoyed a lot of the restaurants and things in the area,” Brynildsen said. “It’s cool to bring in not just the tournament, but to bring that business into the area.”
For more information about Riverbend Axe Throwing, visit their Facebook page or riverbendaxethrowing.com.
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