Burrow (72) received the services to sport award at the annual ASB-sponsored Otago Sports Award dinner at the Town Hall.
He has been involved in rowing for the past 56 years, after joining the North End Rowing Club in 1957.
He won a New Zealand title in 1959 and has stayed in the sport after his competitive days as an official and administrator.
Burrow has held several key positions with the Otago Rowing Association. He was president in 1982 and again from 2008 to 2011, and chairman from 1982 to 1990.
He was an executive member of Rowing New Zealand from 1980 to 1985 and has been an international umpire and co-ordinator for rowing at the New Zealand Masters Games.
He was a founding member of the South Island Rowing Association in 1975, when North Island interests wanted to hold all national regattas on Lake Karapiro, and was a key mover in the South Island response that led to the development of Lake Ruataniwha and turning the lake into an international-quality rowing lake.
Burrow continues to work hard on the development of facilities at the lake. Since retiring from his plumbing business nine years ago, Burrow and wife Jeanette spend up to four months a year at the lake.
The facilities at the lake are now worth an estimated $2 million.
His hard work has been recognised and Burrow is a life member of the North End Rowing Club, the Otago Rowing Association and the South Island Rowing Association. He was named the volunteer of the year at Rowing New Zealand's annual meeting in 2010.
