Sports & Athletics

(05/07/12) Horse racing is in the midst of its triple crown, with the Kentucky Derby this past Saturday, the Preakness later this month in Maryland, and New York's Belmont Stakes coming up in June. Breeding and training thoroughbreds and harness horses has been a tradition in our region for decades. But the industry is changing, with some saying it's in crisis.

Over the last three years, the New York Times reports some 3,600 horses have died at the nation's tracks. Modern technology might have saved some of those animals, but the bottom line, as many owners see it, is that healing a horse is often too expensive. WEKU's Leslie Guttman reports on the equine hospitals where life-saving care is balanced against the bottom line. more

(04/19/12) The effort to legalize mixed martial arts, also known as ultimate fighting, in New York, got a boost in the legislature Wednesday. The Senate passed a bill to legalize the sport, by a vote of 43 to 14, and the Speaker of the Assembly opened the door to possible approval in his house. more

(03/08/12) With temperatures in the Tri-Lakes area soaring into the mid-50s today, the Olympic Regional Development Authority officially canceled this year's Lake Placid "Loppet" ski race, planned for this weekend.

The race had already been delayed once due to warm weather and lack of snow. The long-distance cross-country race is one of the most popular in the Northeast.

(02/20/12) Brian McCarthy was a football fan first, but he's now on the inside of the game, as VP of communications for the National Football League. Chris Morris has a profile. more

(02/17/12) The best bobsled and skeleton racers are competing in Lake Placid this week in the 2012 World Championships. The competition will be a big test for the American bobsled team, which has struggled this year on the World Cup tour.

The US team is hoping to prove that its Olympic gold medal at the last Winter Olympis was no fluke and the program can sustain the funding and technical support needed to match the Europeans.

Brian Mann was at the track this week and has this preview.

(01/19/12) Part of Ottawa's Rideau Canal Skateway opened for skating this past Sunday, kicking off its 42nd season. Once weather permits, nearly five miles of frozen canal will see heavy use for another month or two. The free skateway is a star attraction for Winterlude, coming up February 3-20. Sunday, just a short section was open, and the ice conditions were listed as poor.

Long time canal enthusiast Hugh Graham keeps a kick sled on hand for bad ice days. The sled looks like a light kitchen chair on long, thin runners. Wearing home-made studded boots, he can ride the runner with one foot, and push along at a good clip with the other. There's even room for some gear or a light passenger on the chair. Graham showed off his kick sled to Lucy Martin for today's Heard Up North. more

(01/17/12) Local officials in Hamilton County are once again trying to sell the Oak Mountain ski area in the town of Speculator. The ski area was taken over by local government officials after a private operator failed to make a go of it. As Martha Foley reports, they hope to find a new owner willing to keep the resort alive.

CLARIFICATION: The Oak Mountain ski area is currently owned and operated by the Hamilton County Industrial Development Authority, a public benefit corporation. Bill Farber is the IDA's co-chair, as well as the chairman of Hamilton County's board of supervisors. more

(01/17/12) The Big Tupper ski area in Tupper Lake was open Monday for the first time this year. The area is run by a non-profit group, mostly by volunteers. It doesn't manufacture snow.

So Big Tupper has had to wait through a long stretch of warm and snowless weather. But it got what it needed last week. more

(01/09/12) The Empire State Winter Games are ready to roll for 2012. The games now rely on local and regional support. Lake Placid tourism head Jim McKenna says as the finances changed, so did the games, for the better. Close to 1,200 athletes are expected to participate this year. McKenna is president of the regional Office of Sustainable Tourism and the Lake Placid Convention and Visitors Bureau. Chris Morris has our story. more

(01/05/12) It's estimated that 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys in the United States experience sexual abuse before they turn 18. Those statistics are alarming. Most adults wince and turn away when the topic of child sex abuse comes up. But it's been harder to avoid after the recent scandals at Penn State and Syracuse University.

Joe Ehrmann hopes this is a watershed moment, where adults start facing the problem, and getting more serious about stopping it.

Ehrmann calls himself a Coach for America. He was a Syracuse All-American football and lacrosse player in the late 60s and early 70s. But it wasn't until Ehrmann started writing a book about coaching, that he had came to an epiphany. He remembered that at the age of 12, he himself had been raped. Ehrmann spoke with Julie Grant.