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Bar-Sponsored Monteroza Track and Field Team to Disband

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20160831-00000069-sph-spo

translated and edited by Brett Larner

The Monteroza corporation, operators of bar chains such as Shirokiya, Uotami and Warawara, announced this week that its track and field team will disband on Mar. 31, 2017.  Founded in April, 2003, the team produced athletes including its current head coach, five-time decathlon national champion and 2007 Osaka World Championships national team member Hiromasa Tanaka, his 2007 Worlds teammate in the 110 m hurdles Kenji Yahata, 2015 Tokyo Marathon 10th-placer Benjamin Ngandu and 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics bobsleigh team member Masaru Miyauchi.  In the off-season the team regularly held workshops for elementary school students to share the experience and enthusiasm of world-class athletes with the next generation.

A company spokesperson commented, "It is very unfortunate that we will no longer be able to support the track and field team, but due to the necessity of improving our corporate efficiency in a difficult business environment we have determined that this decision was inevitable."  With top-class members on the track, field and roads, the team currently includes eleven athletes and four staff members.  With some team members aiming for the Tokyo Olympics four years from now, management is making efforts to facilitate their transfer to other teams following the announcement of the Monteroza dissolution.

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Unknown said…
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Brett Larner said…
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