{"id":40154,"date":"2016-07-14T10:04:27","date_gmt":"2016-07-14T14:04:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=40154"},"modified":"2016-07-14T13:21:52","modified_gmt":"2016-07-14T17:21:52","slug":"triathlon-at-brock-to-honour-memory-of-former-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2016\/07\/triathlon-at-brock-to-honour-memory-of-former-student\/","title":{"rendered":"Triathlon at Brock to honour memory of former student"},"content":{"rendered":"

Naomi Cermak never had the chance to complete the triathlon she trained so hard for while battling cancer. The disease took that away from her. But, cancer could never steal her determination to try in all aspects of her life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite metastatic melanoma, the 31-year-old Brock University graduate achieved academic breakthroughs and thrived athletically throughout her short life. She died in 2013 after a 13-month fight with the disease.<\/p>\n

To honour her memory and raise money for a graduate student scholarship in her name, the Brock community will come together on Thursday, July 21 for the Tri to Inspire <\/strong>triathlon being held at Brock.<\/p>\n

\u201cNaomi will always be remembered by those who knew her as a friendly, driven, determined individual who always looked on the bright side,\u201d says her sister Carly Cermak.<\/p>\n

The development of this scholarship will help us remember Naomi, as both an avid researcher and an athlete.<\/span><\/p>\n

Naomi\u2019s efforts to raise awareness of melanoma, as well as her determination to conquer her illness resulted in her selection to participate in the Kona Ironman championships as an inspiration athlete.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn between cancer treatments, Naomi always found a way to ride on her stationary bike or join me up north to swim in Georgian Bay,\u201d her sister says.<\/p>\n

However, Naomi had to withdraw from the event as her immune system became too compromised and her health deteriorated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe development of this scholarship will help us remember Naomi, as both an avid researcher and an athlete. My daughter was an amazing young woman who was still writing papers and mentoring students while undergoing treatment,\u201d Tineke Cermak says.<\/p>\n

Naomi attended Brock for her Masters of Science in Muscle Physiology from 2004-06 and was the recipient of the Governor General’s Academic Medal. She went on to complete her PhD in Exercise Physiology at McMaster. At the time of her diagnosis, Naomi was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Maastricht in Holland and her papers on beet root juice and performance continue to be cited by researchers.<\/p>\n

More than 50 athletes, staff, students and faculty are expected to come together to compete and remember Naomi during the Tri to Inspire.<\/p>\n

\u201cNaomi continues to inspire others to fight and find a cure,\u201d says Department of Kinesiology Chair, Brian Roy.<\/p>\n

The triathlon starts at noon in the Eleanor Misener Aquatic Centre followed by closing remarks at the Farmer\u2019s Market in Jubilee Court at 1 p.m.<\/p>\n

Donations are being accepted for the Naomi Graduate Student Scholarship at https:\/\/brocku.ca\/donate<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Cermak

Kinesiology Department Chair Brian Roy, Tineke Cermak, Naomi Cermak and Zdenek Cermak at Naomi’s convocation ceremony.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Naomi Cermak never had the chance to complete the triathlon she trained so hard for while battling cancer. The disease took that away from her. But, cancer could never steal her determination to try in all aspects of her life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":39737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3319,4052,1],"tags":[4222,4297,4296],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40154"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40154"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40161,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40154\/revisions\/40161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}