Women's axe throwing league hits bull's-eye in Barrington

Suzy Atwood wears a silver necklace with two pendants:a targetand a map of Nova Scotia with a heart on the South Shore.

Atwood combined those two passions into Wild Axe Women, an axe-throwing league for women in Barrington, N.S.

'Just for fun'

Members havecome together one night a week for the last couple of years.

Sometimes they even stay around after dark. They pulltheir cars up close,turning on the lights as they throw axes atlarge pieces of wood.

"Seeing the women that participate hit the bull's-eye for the first time, there's nothing that ...really beats that," Atwood told CBC's Information Morning.

The sport isgreat social event, she said, where women get to take some time for themselves.

"Occasionally we keep score, but it's just for fun," Atwoodsaid.

'Yoga tends to stress me out'

SamanthaBrannensaid the club is a great way to relax.

"Yoga tendsto stress me out,but this actually let's me go," she said.

"I know my position, I know what I have to do and I know how good the results feel."

Sports that involve strength are right up heralley, Brannen said.

"My grandmother would tell me I was strong as a brick outhouse," she said.

'Very comfortable'

League member Nicole Hazelett watched Atwood before she first threw an axe.

"I remember thinking, 'I'm really awkward. This could be very dangerous'," she said with a laugh.

"It took a little while but, you know, you become very comfortable holding the axe and throwing it."

• Axe throwing bar off to good start in Halifax

Backyard targets

She even has her own backyard target, as do several of the other women.

Atwood and her boyfriend Darren Hudson, a world champion logroller, had quite a few requests for targets when the club got started.

"A lot of women received axe targets for Christmas presents," Atwood said with a chuckle.