Tauranga Ramblers president Malcolm Taylor said it was a remarkable race by Robinson in the final.
"Having trained with the Black Sticks in the morning she stunned the crowd and other athletes by leading the 400m at the halfway point. She then held off her Waikato Bay of Plenty teammate Meg Hamilton-Reid with a desperate dive over the finish line for third place in 57:31 to Meg's 57:42," Taylor said.
The gold was won by Megan Kikuchi of Auckland in 56.94 with the silver going to Jamie Sowter also of Auckland in 57:04.
Taylor said what made Robinson's performance truly outstanding was her performance at a Waikato Bay of Plenty Open meeting at Tauranga Domain on March 11 where she ran 63.01s for the 400m.
"She never looked a New Zealand Championships finals prospect as she looked very dejected with the Tauranga result," he said. "So a bonus bronze medal for a very popular athlete."