The Alexandra stalwart is looking forward to putting his feet up and watching from the lakeside after retiring earlier this year, having given 65 years of service to the sport.
But he will never be far from his beloved Dunstan Arm club, and he even made a guest appearance as a commentator for the Central Otago championships recently.
Mills was dragged down to the Alexandra Rowing Club — later moved to the Clyde Dam and renamed Dunstan Arm — by his older brother, Barry, as a 12-year-old in 1960.
He started out as a coxswain, then started rowing, and his highlights in the boats included being part of the Alexandra intermediate eight that won bronze — and was the only crew from the South Island in the final — at the national championships in the 1970s.
Off the water, Mills has been heavily involved as an administrator, serving as club captain from 1969 to 1974, and president from 1974 to 1991, and he was made a life member of the Central Otago club in 1987. He also learned how to repair boats.
But once Mills picked up the microphone, he found his calling, serving as a commentator for regattas for nearly 35 years.
Mills started commentating regattas on the Clutha River — where they used to roll the wire out of the rowing sheds to the commentators — and soon found his niche.
‘‘Just being a snotty-nosed, cheeky little 12-year-old coxswain when I started, there was always a bit of cheek there and a lot of fun ... and I got pulled into commentating at [Lake] Ruataniwha,’’ Mills said.
He called more races than you can count through the years at Twizel, from local regattas to South Island championships, the Maadi Cup and national championships.
There were many memories behind the microphone, but he considered himself lucky to call Ashburton rower Veronica Wall when she created history by winning the under-16, under-17 and under-19 single sculls at Maadi.
He commentated alongside Stew Mitchell for years, had a couple of stints on his own — ‘‘when I was on my own I did 144 races one day by myself’’ — and later added Kirsty Dunhill to his team.
In the past couple of years they had built up a strong team of four and Mills left calling the shots in their very capable hands.
Mills had received voluntary awards from the former Alexandra Borough Council for his services to rowing, and Rowing New Zealand recognised his contributions through the years — including a volunteer recognition award in 2017.
He was made a life member of South Island Rowing last year.
He also attended three world cups, two at Lake Karapiro and one at Lake Barrington, in Australia.
‘‘I’ve just been a boy that’s loved the water. I’ve been a swimmer in the day and I got an awful lot out of it all.’’
