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In the beginning of May, the extreme bicycle race around Slovenia took place (DOS 2009). Marko Fon, police officer from the Koper Police Station, took part in the race and concluded it very successfully. For his extraordinary success he was also congratulated by Janko Goršek, Acting Director General of the Police, who today, 19 May 2009, received him at the General Police Directorate.

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The reception was attended by: Janko Goršek, Acting Director General of the Police, and Marko Fon, police officer and extreme cyclist (in the middle), and Danijel Žibret, Director of Uniformed Police Directorate, Božidar Štemberger, director of the Koper PD, Igor Majcen, commander of the Koper PS, Jože Konec, head of the Aliens Centre, Vlado Pifar, assistant commander of the Koper PS, Andrej Berginc, police officer from the Aliens Centre and director of DOS Extreme, and police officers from the Koper PS, Danijel Karba and David Berginc.

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Janko Goršek, Acting Director General of Police, congratulated Marko Fon for the extraordinary achievement and commended the work of the escort team. He promised that police officers have his support and that next year he would also come to cheer for them.


Marko Fon participated in DOS already last year, but unfortunately he had to give up due to an injury after 1060 kilometres. Thanks to excellent preparedness and perseverance, he attained, among 36 competitors of DOS Extreme who managed to reach the finish line, a very successful 12th place. For the 1189 km long route he needed 51 hours and 10 minutes, and, with this time, he even qualified to take part in the race across America RAAM.

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Marko Fon was exceptionally satisfied with his success and pleased with the reception by the Acting Director General of Police.


In the Third Race around Slovenia, police officer Fredi Virag from the Cerknica PS also participated (he took part in the race for the second time). Unfortunately, he had to give up due to backbone injury.  Fredi Virag was the first Slovene, who in 2003 successfully concluded the most difficult  test of the extreme cycling sport RAAM. To this test of life he was then accompanied by colleagues Mirko Zver from the Operations and Communications Centre at the Postojna PD, and Andrej Berginc from the Aliens Centre. The latter is also the mentor of the DOS project.

Last year, police officer Luka Černuta from the Aliens Centre also took part in the race and completed it successfully after 63 hours on the bicycle. This year, he took part as the leader of the Fredi Viraga team.

In 2007, the first Race around Slovenia was organised. The international umbrella organisation for ultracycling UMCA (UltraMarathon Cycling Association) awarded to DOS Extreme the title of the best organised race in Europe for the year 2007. They also received the best rated coefficient of difficulty in Europe (4)

In 2008, the project was entered in the calendar of world races with the highest coefficient in Europe.

The number of participants in the race has increased from year to year:

  • DOS Extreme 2007: 19 participants from 7 countries of the world
  • DOS Extreme 2008: 49 participants from 10 countries of the world
  • DOS Extreme 2009: 56 participants from 10 countries of the world

What is DOS Extreme?

It is an extreme bicycle race across Slovenia. It is 1,200 km long and has 14,000 m of altitude difference. The start and finish lines are in Postojna. The race has 12 time controls, spaced at approximately 100 to 150 km across the whole Slovenia.

Bicyclists cycle almost without resting. This year, the winner needed 40 hours for this route, while the competitor arriving last needed 65 hours.

The organiser wishes to connect, through sports, all places around Slovenia, and make Slovenia more prominent in the world. Numerous congratulations and words of support for excellent organisation come from the whole world, and above all from the bicycling circles. The DOS organisation committee is already planning organisation of DOS Extreme 2010.

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