Save the Date - 20245 Kangeiko in Clearwater, BC

The 2025 BCAF Kangeiko will be returning to Clearwater, BC, on February 14-17, 2025, and will once again be co-hosted by the BCAF, Clearwater Aikikai, and the District of Clearwater.

Kangeiko is the BCAF’s "winter training intensive," the parallel objectives of which are to support the varying needs of different host dojo and to encourage the maturation of the BC aikido community through greater horizontal collaborations at various levels: among aikido practitioners, among dojo, and among local community partners.

The first BCAF Kangeiko, held in February 2023, was held in Clearwater just one month after the post-COVID re-opening of Clearwater Aikikai. 

The event was instrumental in providing the dojo with local recognition and validation, in turn allowing the small dojo to grow and stabilize at about 30 youth members and a few, courageous, adults.

Kangeiko 2025 will span both Valentine’s Day and the Family Day long weekend, so this time around, the organizers would like to encourage visitors to bring their family members and partners. The Kangeiko schedule will contain over 18 hours of mat time across 4 days, but it also will allow for time to be spent with loved ones who do not practice aikido. Clearwater is situated at the entrance to Wells Grey Provincial Park and offers a very wide range of winter activities, with guided tours of the numerous frozen waterfalls located within the park, skating and ice fishing on Dutch Lake, cross-country skiing on the Candle Creek trail network, and snowshoeing in the back country (https://wellsgray.ca/things-to-do/ski-snow-ice/winter-waterfalls/). Day trips to Sun Peaks (approximately 90 min away) are also a possibility. 

(Picture shows Moul Falls in the winter)

Accommodation options will include the now infamous (among past participants) Nakiska Ranch (https://nakiskaranch.wpcomstaging.com/accommodation-2/) as well as the possibility of various in-town motel bookings (FYI: morning classes start at 6:30 am. Nakiska Ranch is a 20-min, winter drive from the venue. All in-town motels are about a 5-min drive. Participants will be responsible for booking their own accommodations).

The Saturday Night Sushi Party will be back, and there will also be a catered social on Sunday night. Breakfast, power snacks, and bagged lunches will be available at the training venue. And the "nap room” will also be back. Because everyone has a different definition of what “intensive” means .

Please save the date - February 14 to 17 - and consider coming to Clearwater to help Clearwater Aikikai show its community that aikido is not JUST for kids and that balancing aikido time and family time is, in fact, possible!

Early registration will be announced as soon as the schedule and costs have been finalized. You can email myrna@clearwateraikikai.ca with any questions or to ensure that you receive the registration notification directly to your inbox.

Thanks, and hope to see you in February!

Myrna Harrod-Taniguti

Lone Instructor, Clearwater Aikikai