Talented runner Olga Firsova is one of those losing her job due to the imminent closure of the main hotel at the Elbow Beach resort this month.

But as she prepares to say goodbye to the Island after only five months, she remains upbeat about her time here and is focusing on the good things she will remember about Bermuda once she returns to the Czech Republic.

"It has been great. I am sad to be leaving but I will try to remember everything," said the 26-year-old hotel reservations coordinator.

In her time in Bermuda she won all three of the road races she competed in and took a first place in one of the prestigious Fifth Avenue Mile road races in New York.

Bermuda's less rushed and stressed approach to life is one of the key things she wants to take back with her to Europe.

"I want to bring to Europe this behaviour; do not stress yourself, make everything easy and do not make everything a rush," she explained.

"People here do not make everything a rush. Here, people work from nine to five and then they leave on time.

The past two weeks have brought two moments of sadness. First, she heard that Clinton Madgwick, a chartered accountant from South Africa with whom she had done a few training runs to help with his New York Marathon preparations, had been badly hurt after falling from a high balcony at an accommodation building at the BIOS station.

Then she was given confirmation that the Elbow Beach hotel building was closing and her job was one of the 160 to be lost.

Having spent much of her working life building a career in the hotel sector, she accepts the reasons for the decision to close the main Elbow Beach building, which is now being mothballed before an anticipated revamp in three or four years.

The resort will remain open in a reduced configuration with guests staying in the cottages away from the main hotel.

"I understand the situation with the hotel and I've had support from everyone there, which makes me feel good," she said.

At the moment her future is uncertain. She hopes to land a hotel job in Prague. There is also the possibility of work in the US. If the hotel options do not materialise, she is also considering taking up running full time providing she can get the support of her club in Prague.

Her athletic ability has been seen in Bermuda where, during the past two months, she has set course records in the Labour Day Five Mile Road Race and the PartnerRe 5K. Some people had already made her a favourite to win next year's Bermuda Day Half Marathon Derby, and she had recently received an invite to compete in the elite women's Front Street Mile race in January's Bermuda International Race Weekend.

While on vacation in Phuket, Thailand, last year she wondered what it would be like to live on a sunny island. Soon afterwards she saw an advertised vacancy with Mandarin Oriental's Elbow Beach resort and applied.

When she flew to Bermuda she took a photo from the airplane as it approached to land. "I said, 'I'm finally here in a real paradise,' I was so impressed. There is the beautiful colour of the ocean."

One day she would love to return if opportunity allows. She said: "I can't believe that I will not come back. I feel that I will."