YEARS of hard work paid off for Naomi Riches as she brought home Paralympic gold in the LTA Mixed coxed fours.
The Harrow Weald star teamed up with David Smith, James Roe, Pam Relph and cox Lily van den Broecke to row to victory at Eton Dorney.
Riches and her team-mates battled it out with Germany in the final and Britain dug deepest in the third quarter of the race and eventually came home nearly two seconds ahead of their rivals.
"It's incredible, absolutely incredible," Riches told the BBC.
"It's a life choice you make; you choose to be an athlete at this level and it isn't just a day job. I'm so happy to know that all the blood, sweat and tears, all the joy and pain, has been worth it for the last few minutes on the water."
Riches won a bronze in Beijing four years ago but a gold medal this time around ensured a gold postbox will be winging its way to Harrow.
