A Bermudian who turned to running during the pandemic has run the Brighton Marathon for Mind UK and found herself on a billboard in the process.

Emma Keane won a competition run by Get Pro, a protein yoghurt brand, which invited marathon participants to submit a form explaining their running journey and what progress means to them.

She was selected from among the applicants and her image appeared on outdoor advertising around Brighton during race week and she describes the whole experience as surreal.

It was very, very strange, but also very, very cool,” Keane said.

“It was definitely not what I had expected to come on my 30th birthday weekend, but it a brilliant cherry on top of all the other great things that happened over those few days.”

Keane’ route to the starting line in Brighton began, as so many running journeys did, during the Covid-19 pandemic. A non-runner before lockdown, she found herself living alone in a studio flat in England when restrictions came into force. The daily one-hour exercise allowance proved to be a turning point.

“That one hour of exercise was basically just how I started running and it kept me sane throughout the whole experience,” Keane said.

“I remember in the first week there was one day that I didn’t leave home and by the end of the day I just felt absolutely awful. It was then that I told myself that I must go outside every day during this hour we’ve got and that was what kept me sane throughout that whole experience.”

Keane chose to run the Brighton Marathon, which she completed in just under four hours, in support of mental health charity Mind. The organisation is close to her heart after she used its resources during a tough time through her university years.

After finding limited mental health resources associated with her place of education, Keane turned to the charity, which responded to 116,000 queries to their helplines last year, for additional support with their help coming at no cost.

“When I first encountered my mental health challenges, years and years ago when I was about 16 or 17 and away at boarding school, I was fortunate to have an incredible support network of teachers and friends and family,” she said.

“I was in a very lucky position, where I did have access to professional help, but I would say in the majority of circumstances it is not the case that people have the means by which to pay for professional care.

“Mind have a helpline, which is open pretty much 24-7, so their help is absolutely always there and the fact it is able to provide the support that it does is just brilliant, and I wanted to support that as much as possible.”

Keane’s views carry particular resonance this week, as Bermuda marks Youth Mental Health Week — a timely reminder that access to mental health support remains key to helping the island’s young people.

The 30-year-old admits that she could not have done the race on her own, with a group of friends from Bermuda that she has known since primary school all getting together to complete a marathon before entering their third decade.

Although technically two days past that deadline when completing the feat, it is something she is delighted to have achieved.

“I’m very lucky to be in a great group of about eight or nine friends from Bermuda who I’ve known probably since we were in year one at Warwick Academy,” she said.

“We go way, way back and last year one of them decided that they wanted to run a marathon before we all turned 30 this year. Brighton Marathon was two days after I turned 30, so technically I didn’t quite make the cut off, but it was a really fun thing to do with some friends.

“It had always been on my bucket list and so it was good to tick that one off and have such a fun weekend around it.”

While Keane now has one less ambition in life, she insists she will continue to raise funds for Mind but perhaps over shorter distances. The Bermuda squash international has played that sport for more than two decades, representing the island at some major events, but is stepping back from life on the court.

“My background is very much squash and I have had so many incredible opportunities over the years to represent Bermuda,” she said.

“I decided after about 20 years of commitment to squash, it was time to not hang it up entirely but to step away for a little bit and try something new.

“I do love running but I’m not sure a marathon will be my distance of choice. With the squash background, I think I prefer something a bit sharper and (6:56) shorter, so maybe I’ll do more half marathons ― I did two in the run-up to Brighton.

Keane’s fundraising page can be found at enthuse.com and she is just a few hundred pounds away from reaching her £3,000 target. Further information about Mind's services — including its helpline and online community resources — is available at mind.org.uk.