Visitors throwing axes at RelAxe Throwing in Manchester. Courtesy photo.
The pandemic has had many people wanting to throw things. And now with RelAxe Throwing in Manchester, there is a safe, and fun, place to hurl an ax and work out any built-up aggression or stress.
Tracey McCormick opened RelAxe Throwing, NH’s first indoor ax-throwing venue, in 2019, offering customers axes of different weights to hurl at targets on a wall. Prior to the pandemic, recreational indoor ax-throwing had been gaining in popularity with clubs opening nationwide. While RelAxe was the first to open in NH, it now has competition from Axe Play in Hudson and Pinz in Portsmouth.
The lure of throwing an ax against a wall without damaging one’s own property or someone calling the cops continues to draw folks. “People drive an hour to get here on a regular basis,” McCormick says.
RelAxe boasts four ax-throwing leagues, with two members who will be competing in the world ax-throwing championships, and has a wall dedicated to players’ stats as well as top bullseye scores. The ax throwing room has six targets on one wall and eight on the other. Customers can order snacks and drinks while they throw 12 to 15 feet away from the targets. Following social distance rules, they keep an empty target between groups.
“Some people assume it’s ‘dangerous’ and ‘scary,’” McCormick says. “But when it’s for sport and in a safe environment, it’s a way to relax.” Safety coaches teach how to safely throw the axes. The standard throwing ax weighs in at about 1 to 2 pounds although they do offer bigger axes of up to 3 pounds.
Tracey McCormick, owner, throws an ax. Courtesy photo.
Business was brisk, and McCormick made back her investment in RelAxe shortly before the pandemic. However, when the pandemic forced businesses to shut down and people to shelter at home, RelAxe, like many businesses, was forced to temporarily close in late March. With the help of its landlord and loyal customers, RelAxe was able to get the business running again on June 6 but had already lost 25% of its business and most of its employees. “We had to start over. Momentum died down; I had to dip into my savings and start from scratch,” McCormick says.
McCormick and her staff reconfigured the layout of furniture to allow for social distancing and added an outside seating area. The brewery company Live Free Distillery, also in Manchester, provided them with free hand sanitizer.
RelAxe regularly features deals for different front-line and essential workers.
And RelAxe Throwing is once again growing, McCormick says, adding she hopes to eventually expand beyond her Manchester location.
For more information, visit RelAxeThrowing.com.
This article was written by Kaitlin Carroll through the Young Reporters Project, a partnership between Business NH Magazine and University of NH Manchester.
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