Naomi Cermak’s memory lives on at triathlon
Brian Roy recalled being Naomi Cermak’s mentor more than a decade ago, inspiring his graduate student while she studied kinesiology at Brock University.
Although she lost her battle with advanced metastatic melanoma four years ago at 31 years old, Roy said Cermak has since become an inspiration to others who have heard her story.
“She just had this phenomenal personality,” Roy said, recalling a student he also counted among his friends.
“When you have amazing graduate students like Naomi, it’s a partnership. She brought out the best in me, and I brought out the best in her. She was going on to become an amazing scientist and athlete, but unfortunately her life was cut short by a terrible disease.”
In addition to her academic achievements that included earning her PhD at McMaster University in exercise physiology following her studies at Brock, Cermak was also an accomplished athlete, competed in triathlon and ironman competitions around the world.
And after discussing the idea with her family a year ago, Brock University established the Naomi Cermak Scholarship as well as the annual Naomi Cermak Tri to Inspire triathlon to fund that scholarship.
The second annual event took place Sunday at Brock University.
Roy teamed up with the university’s fitness centre manager Eric Walter to organize the triathlon, a sport that includes swimming, cycling and running.
The about 75 competitors at this year’s event included people from a variety of ages and skill levels, inspired to participate by Cermak’s memory as well as their love for the sport.
“The focus is on Naomi’s story and the scholarship,” Walter said. “The triathlon is something fun on the side, because that’s what she loved to do.”
In addition to bringing in funds for the graduate scholarship program, the triathlon was also about the sports that Cermak loved.
“It’s such a fun event. There are so many people here doing this for the first time today, it’s awesome,” Roy said. “But we also have elite Canadian triathletes here.”
Brock student and St. Catharines resident Salvatore Fiume was the first to cross the finish line in 31 minutes and 57 seconds after completing all three events.
“It’s a mental thing. The body is only going to do what the mind is prepared to do,” Fiume said.
Meanwhile, Roy said holding the event on a Sunday allows families to get involved, and get more active in three fabulous sports including swimming, cycling and running.
But the primary goal of the event, Roy said, was to raise awareness about a disease that “steals too many people at too young an age.”
Although participation at the event dropped slightly this year — likely because it was moved to the weekend to better accommodate families — Roy suspects that it will grow in years to come.
“The anticipation is by moving it to the weekend we can make it even bigger,” he said.
“Ideally, we’d like to make it into its own independent event, and run it as a major event,” he said.