At the end of a day at Oxford University’s Bodleian Library, 29- year-old Verity Westgate sets aside her weighty tomes and emerges from among the shelves, sleek and lean in lycra as she prepares to take on a physical challenge, the mere thought of which would exhaust lesser mortals.

Verity turned to sport after the death of her friend, Emily Riall, who tragically committed suicide in 2006 aged just 22 and, determined to keep her friend’s memory alive, undertook the mile-long Great North Swim in Lake Windermere later that year as a newcomer to open water swimming, to raise money for Mind, the mental health charity for whom she has now raised over £10,000.

Mental health issues affect more than one in four of us and it’s a cause close to Verity’s heart as she herself has struggled with episodes of depression for the last 12 years. It was as she began training for that first race that she discovered the pattern of regular exercise helped keep her own illness under control.

And here began her metamorphosis into her alter-ego ‘Action Librarian’! “When I have depression,” explains Verity, “my head is so full up with negative thoughts that it is very difficult to motivate myself. However, training really helps because you can create a routine and follow a plan which removes the need to think, stops my thoughts wandering and helps to manage the illness.

“At the moment, I am training 10-12 hours each week with one rest day. Swimming is my favourite because I can really switch off while I’m doing it, but the cycling has to be fitted in too with 4.5 hour rides on a Sunday, and I do a long run before work once a week.”

Over the next couple of years Verity swam more, each time taking on a longer and harder challenge in her efforts to raise awareness of mental health issues: as recognition of her tireless fundraising she was invited to be a torchbearer and carried the Olympic flame through her home town of Kidlington last year.

Looking for a new challenge Verity then turned to triathlon, adding running and cycling to her sporting portfolio and building her distances at both with trademark pink accessories and grim determination.

In six weeks time she is taking on a monumental new challenge, The Ironman 70.3 Zell am See/Kaprun, a gruelling triathlon event in Austria on September 1 consisting of a 1.2-mile (1.9km) swim, a 56-mile (90km) bike ride, finished off with a half-marathon (21.1km) run which she expects to take around eight hours. “I was diagnosed with depression for the fifth time in November 2012. Just as if I’d had a physical injury, training took a back seat for a few months.

“Depression is a debilitating illness that consumes your whole life and makes you feel totally worthless.

“I’ve since learned that it is okay to ask for support, and the more awareness there is about depression, the less stigma there will be.” Thankfully with the support of Mind, her husband Ken and her family and friends, Verity is now on the road to recovery. If you’d like to sponsor Verity, visit virginmoneygiving.com/verityjdo