IF YOU ARE a world beater in your chosen sport, you might be forgiven for thinking the folks back home would be falling over themselves to celebrate your achievements.
Byron Bay surfer Pauline Menczer not only won a world championship, she was suffering from arthritis so crippling at the time, that friends would often push her around in a shopping trolley to save her the agony of trying to walk.
So why is her name missing from Byron Bay’s Surfer’s Lane Roll of Honour?
[xyz-ihs snippet=”Servo”]
The lane’s mural features some of the town’s surfing heroes — members of the Byron Malibu Club and Byron Bay Boardriders Club.
But Menczer’s name is missing, despite her living in the Byron Shire at the time of her world crown.
In fact, there are no women on the mural at all.
[xyz-ihs snippet=”NoGeekSpeak”]
“I do care about the younger generation coming through, and there could be some young girls coming through and they look up at this wall and see a lot of men, and the women that they idolise aren’t there, so what’s that telling them? That they’re not worthy?” said Menczer.
President of the Byron Bay Boardriders Neil Cameron said Menczer should be recognised for her achievements, along with Mark ‘Mono’ Stewart, the one-legged, two-time winner of the world adaptive surfing championship.
Mr Cameron said since the laneway tribute was created to commemorate surfers who had achieved a lot in the organisation and promotion of the sport of surfing in Byron Bay, there had been controversy over who should and should not be included.
“(The mural) went mental on Facebook with all the people saying this person should be included and that person should be included,” he said.
”But I think what Pauline’s achieved was incredible and there’s a good argument for her to be recognised.”
