Robyn from the Brisbane Outrigger Canoe Club (BOCC) is the winner of the nationwide Toyota Team Everyone competition run by the Australian Olympic Committee, which provides $5,000 for Robyn and $5,000 for the BOCC, selected from hundreds of exceptional volunteers that were nominated by their clubs.

When Lisa Fitzgerald submitted her nomination of Robyn, she wasn’t just putting forward a name, she put forward a woman who has shaped countless lives and a sport at the club, state, national and international level.

In 1998 Robyn joined the BOCC as a volunteer and has donated her time to coach, mentor, be club treasurer and national coordinator while being an elite athlete.

She’s coached teams to world titles, is an elite world champion athlete herself, mentored athletes with type one diabetes while managing her own chronic health issues and continuously showed up for the paddling community.

Two years ago her life was rocked by the sudden loss of her life partner and fellow club member Danny Topfer, but her dedication to volunteering and providing for the people in the club meant too much to take any break from her intrinsic work.

“[Volunteering] gives you some sense of worth,” Robyn said. “It is rewarding as it is draining, so it sorts of balances itself out.

“Sometimes you are just overwhelmed and other times, the rewards are like today. You see people happy and complete an event that's quite challenging for the distance.”

Having volunteered and coached for years and been looked up to as an incredible paddler who in her 50s is still highly competitive against athletes in a variety of male and female age groups, she’s learned through trial and error and now sees it as her mission to guide others through the sport.

“She’s really important, not just in our little club but also in terms of her program,” Lisa said.

“In our Brisbane club, it's a small club, and she and Danny were instrumental in doing everything from looking after the club, organising our training, to taking care of the boats and things.

“She’s absolutely integral and an important part of everything. Since Danny’s passing, she’s kept that commitment going. It's massive, not just to the club, but particularly to female paddlers.”

Outrigger Canoeing is a water sport where athletes paddle in long, narrow canoes that have one or more lateral support floats - called outriggers - attached to the side of the canoe. These outrigger arms provide stability and are used to navigate open water.

There are different races, including sprints (e.g. distances under 1500m) and marathons (ranging from 30-70km.) The canoes can be canoed solo, in pairs or in teams of six.

While Canoe Sprint is part of the Olympic Games, Outrigger Canoeing is not. However, because of their similarities, some call Outrigger Canoeing a ’cousin’ to the Olympic sport.

The running of the Battle of the Bay, with Robyn as Race Director and Wendy Seeto as Club President, took place in memory of Danny and was made possible in part by the cash prize.

This year many participants wore the iconic "Toppy Orange" shirt—a colour deeply tied to Danny by both practicality and personal preference.

“Danny always believed that orange was the best colour on the ocean because you could see it from a distance,” Robyn said.

“Over time that became his signature, and it was known as 'Toppy Orange.' People even used him as the marker, the lead boat, because you could spot him a mile away in his bright shirt.

“It always makes me smile when I see people wearing the orange shirt, especially when it's the race shirts we've designed with Danny's name and face on them. People loved him for his generosity, and seeing those shirts reminds me of how much he gave to the sport and to everyone around him.”

In the 1990s there were only a handful of women participating in outrigging. Today, events attract more than 150 people thanks to dedicated volunteers like Robyn.

“This is a small race,” she said. “But we can get 150 people at an event now, racing all different distances.”
Robyn has credited the success of this year’s Battle of the Bay in part to the prize money from Toyota.

"The backing of Toyota for an award like this is incredible, not just for me, but for all the volunteers who make sport possible,” Robyn said.

“Without volunteers, we wouldn’t have Olympians.”

Adriana Leyba Macedo & Jeff Dickinson-Fox