NAOMI Riches might be a five-time world champion but the Harrow Weald rower admits she is entering the unknown this weekend.

Riches, who won gold at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, has pretty much done it all in the sport and has the medals to prove it.

She is set to fly the flag for Britain at this year’s World Championships in Chungju, Korea, which takes place over eight days starting this Sunday.

The 30-year-old, who is registered blind, will compete alongside Pamela Relph, James Fox, Oliver Hester and cox Oliver James.

It is the same talented squad that won gold in the World Cup at Eton Dorney in June to head into this weekend’s event in fine form.

But Riches, who got into the swing of things in Korea while on a training camp in late July, reckons winning the gold is far from a foregone conclusion.

Well-travelled, the rower has taken to the water in Beijing, Hong Kong and Japan but is exploring a new city this summer.

And to add to the uncertainty, Riches says the Brits have not had chance to check out their rivals ahead of the showdown in the Far East.

“We haven’t really seen much of our competition this year,” Riches told the Observer. “We know the Italians, Russians and the Polish have got crews going. It was only Ukraine that we faced off against at the World Cup in June so we are going in without having seen much of everybody.

“Winning becomes a habit, but at the same time you can’t become complacent. It might become a habit but you certainly can’t expect it to happen. You’ve got to be prepared for the possibility that someone out there could be going 10 seconds faster than you and always be willing to push yourself to the limit.

Despite the lack of homework done on the competition, Riches is one of the most experienced rowers on the lake and believes that wealth of knowledge will prove pivotal.

“I’ve been around the block a few times. I’ve seen plenty of changes in the 10 years I’ve been rowing but I feel honoured to have been such a long and fantastic journey. You’re always going to get frustrations along the way but you’ve got to get through it.”

“Pam and I, the two blondes in the bow as they kept calling us in the papers, have been training together. We row quite similar strokes in many ways so we are quite good to have as a pair. We’ve got the experience and we’ll back everybody up.”