Meet Lizzie Hill | Co-Founder North American Canicross

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lizzie Hill and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lizzie, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
We, the founders of North American Canicross are 3 best friends (Alexis Karpf, Jacqui Johnson, Lizzie Hill) who met through a mutual love of dogs and competing in dog sports. We bonded over the adventure that was running with our dogs on trails, and together we found a love of the sport of canicross. Canicross is dog powered cross country running, using special harnesses, lines, and running belts to allow for the dog to pull comfortably while still absorbing shock and protecting their owner from injury. While we discovered this incredible sport that allowed us to bond with each other and with our dogs, we started to search for opportunities to learn more and run with likeminded people, and we came up pretty short. We realized that while canicross was very popular overseas, there just were not very many resources for canicross runners in North America. So, we set out to create a space where existing and aspiring canicross runners could learn, share their experiences, find meetups and races, and ultimately be part of a community that encouraged them. We did not actually set out to become a business in the start, we just wanted to support a community that we had grown to love, but we quickly realized that we as a team had the skills to put so much more into the canicross community, and in June of 2019, North American Canicross was born. As more canicross enthusiasts flocked to our social media pages to learn, we also launched our titling program to give people milestones to work towards, and began to expand our reach by bringing in trusted ambassadors for the sport to host in person meetups all over North America. None of us were business experts, so we have figured out a lot along the way, but every lesson has been worth it because we get to see the joy our program has brought to so many dogs and their humans!

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am most proud of the impact that North American Canicross has had on the larger dog owning community. Some dog sports have a large barrier to entry and the cost of training or hefty equipment requirements can be very limiting for those looking to get involved. But, with canicross, that barrier is much lower and while proper equipment and training your dog is required, you don’t have to go to a fancy facility to learn how to run with your dog. So, this means that canicross is a great gateway into the world of training and bonding with your dog, something a lot of dog owners need to do more of! NACC does everything we can to be inclusive in our program, and we encourage all breeds, all shapes and sizes, all paces, all skill levels, and all locations to get involved and participate with us as in whatever way works best for them, as a way to motivate their training, bonding, and exercising with their dogs! Embracing the differences in the community has actually built a stronger foundation for us to grow our program, create more opportunities, and continue to help dog owners live more harmoniously with their dogs. While that has not been easy, and we have hit many hurdles along the way especially as we try to engage the larger trail running community and try to convince them that they love us running their races with our dogs as much as we do, we never let hearing no get us down. The more we work to expand the canicross community, the more race organizers hear about us, and the more our supporters seem to find us. So, we just keep believing in ourselves, our mission, and our community to keep pushing forward even when things don’t go as planned.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
While the founders of NACC are all located in and around the Atlanta area, we LOVE taking a trip up to Greenville, South Carolina. It is one of the most dog friendly cities I have ever visited and it has an awesome mix of nature and urban outings to do with our dogs. A perfect weekend in Greenville would have us camping at Paris Mountain State Park and hiking their gorgeous trails, but also finding time to get into the city and check out the dog friendly restaurants – like White Duck Taco shop in Hampton Station which is a personal favorite of mine being gluten free, but also because the courtyard has something for everyone and then you get to sit out with everyone and just enjoy the environment together. If we were feeling a more urban hike, we love Falls Park on the Reedy and nothing is better than grabbing a coffee at Spill the Beans and then walking over to the falls with your pups! We have had a lot of opportunities to check out Greenville because we go up at least once a year to support our friend Miley and her dog focused obstacle course race, Ultimutt!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
NACC would not be where it is today without the help of so many folks that believed in us and in our mission along the way, and it would be so hard to give a shoutout to just one person, so I want to give our shoutout to two groups of individuals – First, we have gotten so much support and guidance from the many race organizers who have given us a chance to come out to their races and show other runners what canicross is and educate the community about a way to include runners with their dogs in existing races without issues. We definitely heard “no” more than we heard “yes”, but we have built beautiful partnerships with some race organizers and in turn we have learned from them and have started to return the favor to the community by hosting our own races which embrace canicrossers but also welcome all runners, with or without dogs. Second, we have been built up so much by the grassroots movement that our ambassadors have lead. We knew we could only do so much as a team of 3, so we started our ambassador program to help get meetups all over North America, and the enthusiasm that our ambassadors have shown has just skyrocketed our ability to build this community stronger and be more inclusive. We are truly grateful for the effort our ambassadors put in to grow the community and create opportunities for new runners to learn from others and run with like minded individuals.

Website: https://nacanicross.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nacanicross

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nacanicross/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@northamericancanicross

Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@nacanicross

Image Credits
Jessica Jones – Unbridled Imagery