Robin Poke, an eighty-one-year-old rowing legend and Olympic champion supporter, passed away on December twelfth. Known for boosting the sports profile in Australia, he was a competitor, administrator, and journalist who touched countless lives through his passion. Born in England, he rowed with the Mosman Rowing Club before moving to Canberra, where he founded and edited Australian Rowing magazine and led teams at world championships. His family remembers him most as a devoted dad and grandpa to five grandchildren. Despite battling retinitis pigmentosa since age twenty-five, he earned a masters in sports studies and a PhD from the University of Canberra in twenty nineteen. He also served as president of the ACT Olympic Council and Retina Australia ACT, earning a Member of the Order of Australia in twenty thirteen. A memorial service happens this Friday, January thirtieth, at four PM at the Red Shed in Acton, honoring a life that paddled against the odds right to the end.

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