On 1st anniversary, Las Hachas patron set to vie in world axe throwing championships

A New Kensington ax-throwing venue is marking its first year in business at the same time one of its patrons is preparing for a world championship competition.

Las Hachas held its grand opening at 1043 Fifth Ave. on Nov. 6, 2021. Its owners — brothers Brian and Zach Heidenreich and Brian Mangone — will celebrate their first anniversary with festivities Saturday.

It will include music by Jimbo Jackson from 7 to 9 p.m. and pizza delivered from Common Oven Pizza. Bays will be open for regular reservations, and a $10 admission fee will be charged from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. for open throw and music.

Also giving Las Hachas reason to celebrate is that Mark Tishko, a regular from Mt. Washington, won the World Axe Throwing League’s U.S. Open in July and will be competing in the organization’s world championships in December.

Brian Heidenreich said becoming affiliated with WATL in January was among their accomplishments in their first year.

“We’ve really legitimized ourselves as a premiere ax-throwing venue in Western Pennsylvania,” he said. “When I look back at it, it’s crazy that it’s been a year. We are constantly moving and looking forward. It’s hard to look back and reflect.”

Las Hachas hosts regular leagues, including an official WATL league, a Sunday youth league and a Thursday ladies night. It has hosted tournaments with attendees coming from multiple states.

While they initially planned to offer food, Heidenreich said, they’ve moved away from having a kitchen, “just because things have been really good without it.”

They recently started to host live music.

Tishko was wearing the Las Hachas logo when he won the WATL U.S. Open, featured on ESPN2, and is a favorite going into the world championships, Heidenreich said.

Tishko said he found Las Hachas when he saw is it affiliated with WATL and close to Pittsburgh. With family in Ford City, New Kensington wasn’t unknown to him.

“There hasn’t been any WATL locations in Pittsburgh at all,” he said, adding the closest ones he knew of were in Youngstown, Ohio, and Morgantown, W.Va.

Tishko, 35, works as a construction project manager at Highmark. He got started in ax throwing, and found he was good at it, when he went to a friend’s birthday party at Lumberjaxes in Millvale four years ago.

“At first, it was something to do with my buddies and friends. We’d hang out, drink beers and throw axes,” he said. “I was always competitive when I was younger playing sports. I like that aspect of it.”

After placing 12th at a regional tournament in Philadelphia, Tishko said he decided to put more time and effort into it to see if he could do any better, which led to him getting onto the competitive ax-throwing circuit. His main discipline is hatchets.

Tishko was in the WATL world championships for the first time in 2021, finishing ninth in hatchets at the competition in Fort Worth, Texas. This year’s competition, with $50,000 in prizes, will be held Dec. 1-4 in Appleton, Wis.

“I’m hoping to do better this year,” he said. “I’m going to give it a great run. There’s a lot of great competitors out there. If my throw is on, I think I got a good shot, at least that’s what I keep telling myself.”

Tishko said he likes the people, bays and high ceiling at Las Hachas, and how they repurposed an old building for ax throwing.

“It’s a nice place to hang out and throw some axes,” he said. “It’s a fun sport. If people haven’t done it, I recommend getting out there. It’s a fun activity on a weekend or a boring night.”