50th anniversary of the Novo mesto cycling club

The story of the Novo mesto cycling club Adria Mobil is varied and inspiring, as it has experienced ups and downs, victories, and defeats in its rich 50-year history.

Due to the constant desire for progress, development, and learning, our club was able and knew how to survive throughout the decades and, with quality work in all areas of activity, also leave a strong mark both at the local and national level. Persistence, courage, competitiveness, ambition, and sportsmanship marked the club's path, just as it was marked by many individuals, competitors, and sports workers with their dedicated and hard work.

On the occasion of the venerable club jubilee, on November 25, 2022, in Nova mesto, in the Janez Trdina Cultural Center, an event was held, at which we walked through the key events in the club's history and shed light on some key individuals who left their mark on the club's history and the hearts of the people of Dolenjska. Bogdan Fink, director of the club, Brane Ralijan, the first president of the club, Pavel Marđonović, president of KZS, Mojca Novak, president of the club, Sonja Gole, general director of Adria Mobil, who is the general sponsor of the Novi Sad cycling club, and Gregor Macedoni spoke to the people gathered in a completely full hall. , the mayor of Novo mesto, who awarded the club a special award from the Municipality of Novo mesto on this occasion.

The program was coordinated by Nina Štampohar and Jure Mastnak, and the percussionists led by Leticia Slapnik Yebuah impressed with their musical contributions.

Mojca Novak and Bogdan Fink presented awards to everyone who made a significant contribution to the development of the club, to the club's competitors for top sporting results and to the sponsors and partners of the club, who through their socially responsible activities enabled the development of the club and cycling, which is one of the most popular sports today.

Mojca Novak, president of the club: "On this important occasion, I congratulate all past and present club workers for their dedicated work, volunteers who knew how to help when it was most needed, all sponsors, without whom the club would not be able to function, the City Municipality Novo mesto, which has supported the club for all 50 years, and last but not least, to all the other friends of cycling who accompany us throughout this long period and brighten up every race, encourage us and give us the impetus to instill in us the desire for progress and development again and again. The Novi Meški cycling club - KK Adria Mobil - is a story that continues. May the next fifty years be successful and full of victorious stories, which we will be happy to follow."

Bogdan Fink, director of the club: "Special thanks go to all the presidents in the club's 50-year history and the members of the board of directors, who always knew how to avoid all dangers so that the club operates on a healthy basis in 2022. I am proud and happy that I could be part of such an organization. We co-created medals at world and European championships, victories all over the world, at our most important race, the race around Slovenia, national championships,... We organized a lot of races, from those for the youngest to the race around Slovenia. And we are no longer only on the road, in the forest, on the meadows, we have a velodrome. For the next fifty..."

Sonja Gole, general director of Adria Mobil: "The sports and business worlds are connected by many details and parallels, but above all the fact that in both areas top results can only be achieved through teamwork. Courage and courage to set and realize ambitious goals are important building blocks of the club's story and I am sure that the combination of cooperation, knowledge, and the desire to prove it will be the foundation on which the club will reach new milestones in the future."

Gregor Macedoni, mayor of the Municipality of Novo mesto: "This year, the legendary Sandi's Balkan circuit received strong competition at the Po Slovenija race with the spectacular ascent of Trška gora and the finish sprint of Pogačar and Mohorič on the main square. Why not remember Novo Mesto on one of the following round anniversaries of Olympic medals in cycling? Congratulations and all the best in the future!"

Pavel Marđonović, president of the KZS: "For fifty years, the Novo Meški Cycling Club has been one of the pillars of the development of cycling in Slovenia and has made a significant contribution to the successes of Slovenian cycling. They are a miracle in their own right, but in cycling, miracles do not happen by themselves, they are based on decades of successful work."

Photo: SPORTIDA and KK Adria Mobil archive