This past Sunday I travelled with Chapman to our ancestral home state's capital for the Urban Open 2023. Now, I wasn't going to compete at all, but Chapman was, having lucked into a waitlist opportunity. For my part, I was coming along to keep him company, see what the Urban Open was all about, and get that sweet, sweet blog content.
I don't know why you would care, but it was a very pleasant trip down. Lancaster to Urban Axes Baltimore is about a 1.5 hour trip, and that's just the right amount of time to talk about nonsense with a good friend before you begin dipping into existential dread conversations.
Regardless, we got there bright and early for practice, and the axe house was chalk-a-block (is that how it actually looks, written out?) full of familiar faces and axe-famous competitors.
The first thing that struck me was how pleasant everyone was. I mean, of course they were pleasant--this community is amazing at its ability to support itself. The second thing was the smell.
Now, I dunno if it is because I lost my familiarity with the smell of human throng during quarantine or if it was due to Sunday being the last day of a full-weekend axe-throwing competition, but not-so-subtle hints of bodega sandwich onions and alcohol dripping from pores surrounded me. Like a blanket. Like a comforting blanket that I wore every time I ever ate onion rings.
THE SPORTING AT URBAN OPEN 2023
Being a non-competitor, I had plenty of opportunity to watch competitors practice, which is always valuable to me. Being from a small axe house myself, seeing new throwers/throws is like having a hundred flash-bulb moments all at once. Hand grip, stance, throw style - it all made me think about how I could improve my throwing. It also made me think about how wild the variety in throwing is in our sport. Granted, lots of top throwers have fairly similar styles, but I like how people figure out what works for them and just roll with it.
The Open started in earnest and I tried to keep up with the Meduseld Meadery throwers. We had Chapman (Chopman, though I don't know that he likes that nickname), Rob A. (I call him the Appalachian Gentleman, but he goes by The Otter Guy) and Bob B. (No nickname at all - though we started calling him Iceberg at the tourney), and all three did a really good job of representing us well (read: none of us got thrown out for being obnoxious, belligerently drunk or demanding blood sport). Bob made it the furthest of the 3, but by 2:30 or so, we were done with the throwing portion of our adventure.
Overall, I was amazed by the skill level shown at the Urban Open. The amount of consistent premier clutches from lots of players was, well, remarkable. I struggle to consistently get standard clutches, so maybe it's just that frame of reference that I'm coming from, but sheesh.
I also noticed that people's axes were becoming a bit more, I dunno, similar I guess? People were still using Flying Foxes and half-hatchets and even Cold Steels every now and again, but the majority had a bull axe and a premier clutch axe, and the majority also seemed to be shying away from the once-very-popular plumb national style of axe. I don't know that I saw a a single IATF Premier axe in use, but I also drank two PBRs by 9:30 so that might not be very accurate. At any rate, it seems like the trend is toward smaller bit axes, and having at least 2 hatchets.
THE SHADOW OF URBAN RULES ALIVE AND WELL ON SUNDAY
Saturday's event used Urban Rules rather than standard or premier IATF rules, and by using my advanced reporter training, it was clear that the vast majority of throwers really enjoyed the ruleset. If you don't know, the Urban Rules are essentially this:
Uses IATF target
Throws that bleed through the bullseye ring into the 3-point ring are scored as 4 points
Throws that bleed through the 3-point ring into the 1-point ring count as 2 points
Throws that touch the clutch (on the 5th throw) count as 5 points
Premier clutches count as 8 points
Throwers using this rule set were more or less (at least 10 out of 12 people I spoke to) wild about it, and I will admit I had daydreams of IATF just up and changing their rules to be a bit more like the Urban ruleset. But more on that in another post.
COMPLAINTS
I don't have any, you dingus. This event was lovely thanks to great organization by the hosting axe house, lane coaches, and players in general. Every loss I saw was taken graciously or excitedly, the food truck was halal and delicious, the bartender remembered me from a marathon league I attended months ago and there were buttons, pins and cool little pens for me to throw money at. Hot damn, not bad at all, Baltimore. There was even a charity raffle going on to help a community family and social efforts, so I mean. Shoot. It was all there.
Overall, the Urban Open was exactly what I hoped it would be: a chance to connect with people and watch some amazing skills while stuffing my face and joking around.
Chapman and I ended up leaving a bit before the finals as we were sleepy bois, but the winners are, in this reporters opinion, not nearly as exciting as the experience of being at the event. I mean, you can find out who won on your own. This is more of an exploration of the vibe, you know? Get off my back. I went to school for creative writing.
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