Ireland’s Axe Throwing World Champion has said she took to the sport like a fish in water just four years ago.
Sligo native Ceola McGowan took home the top prize at the World Double-Bit Axe Throwing Championships in Barrington, Canada on Sunday.
She beat off challengers from all over the world including Germany, Sweden, Canada, Estonia and the UK to claim the word title.
On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, Ceola said axe throwing came naturally to her when she first got involved in 2018.
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“I did kind of take to it a bit like a fish in water,” she said. “It was just something felt so right the first time I picked up that axe and threw it over my head down that range.
“I didn’t hit the target on the first go but it just made me more determined and then ... I was hooked.”
Originally from Grange, Ceola said she trains with the ‘Wicklow Axe Throwers’ in Newtown Mount Kennedy.
Her training involves more than throwing – and she credits part of her success to her pole dancing regime, which helps her build core strength and flexibility.
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She said both sports boast large international communities.
“With axe throwing, we call it the axe fam community and that is everybody that throws axes nationally and internationally,” she said. “We’re a big, huge community and the pole dancing community is a lot like that.”
“They’re supportive, they’re loving, they want to see you succeed and do so well and pole dancing just gave me confidence in myself and in my own abilities.
“That’s what you need when you’re axe throwing. You need the confidence to kind of, pick up the axe, throw it and go to the competitions and things like that.
“Not only did pole fitness give me some core strength, flexibility, upper body, it also gave me the confidence to pursue competition and be myself and go for it.”
Ceola said she often gets the same reaction when she tells people she is an axe thrower: ‘God, I’ll stay on your good side.”
“Generally, the reaction is really positive and people are curious,” she said. “It’s good to see that it’s not so shocking.
“When I first started telling people I was an axe thrower back in 2018, they were kind of like, yeah it would be you … but other than that it was just so unknown, so it’s great that there is a little bit of recognition now.”
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