Sightrunning

They communicate via Facebook, and the group is growing all the time. The aim is to run together through Luxembourg as a big, happy troop, sometimes with more than 50 people. The procedure is kept as straightforward as possible. Anyone who wants to take part can simply turn up and join the group. Runners can get changed in the back room at Independent Café, where valuables can also be locked away. They run 10 km in about an hour – “it’s easily doable, and you can stop and take photos now and again,” says Dan, one of the four founders of the group.

The FatBetty.Run is a really memorable way to experience the city – they call it “sightrunning”. Participants say that running together through the city is a great feeling; an energy is created that welds the group more strongly together each week.
 

It’s easy to make new friends as you run. “It’s simply more fun doing it in a gang!” says Ricky, who has been going along for the last two years. The run has already spawned many friendships.

“I always love going on the FatBetty.Run,” raves Nikki. “You see the city in a quite different way in summer from in the winter, there’s always a new perspective.” The team makes sure that there are some nice sights on the way – including Unesco sites, of course. Neumünster Abbey in the Grund district is a firm fixture on nearly every run. “Some of the people who run with us are only in Luxembourg for a few weeks and through us they get to know corners of the city that they would otherwise never see,” says Nikki. “We’re a sweaty, multicultural bunch,” says Yves, laughing. “There’s no hierarchy when you run. Your job, your age, your nationality or what languages you know – none of that’s important. Newcomers are always right in there as part of the group from the very start.”

Talking about going uphill, what’s the reason for the name “Fat Betty”? At first, it doesn’t seem a very obvious or appropriate name for a dynamic running crew. But that little, irritating incongruity is an integral part of the slightly mad concept. “We’re often asked about the name as we run through the city with our T-shirts on,” says co-founder Guido with a grin. 

The answer to the puzzle is as follows: “Fat Betty” is what the four “founding fathers” of the run used to call their 1-in-4-gradient (training) hill in Steinsel, the Montée Haute (“Décke Bierg” in Luxembourgish: “big hill”). And “Fat Betty” just sounded a whole lot cooler and more personal. 

Almost like the name of a mascot.
 

More and more locals, tourists and business people are joining in with the FatBetty.Run through the city. Samuel from Manchester has only been in Luxembourg for a few months. He thinks it’s great that the runners are always considerate in setting the pace and that it’s not a competition: “It’s not about racing or pacing. It’s about having some ‘run-fun’ together.”