Paddling: Wife upstages husband in Brazil

The Aotearoa Team Parihaka - Tony Munroe, Darren Collins, Nigel Draper, Gordon McKay, Matt Kensington and Richard Pehi. Photo / John Stone

The couch in Ngaire and Richard Pehi's Whareora home is far from the frantic hustle of the IVF Va'a World Sprint Championship in Rio de Janario, Brazil.

But, for this husband-and-wife combo, it is now that they can look back and reflect on their gold and silver efforts.

While Richard went in a defending world champion, it was his wife, Ngaire, who returned with the gold medal, the only one for New Zealand.

It is a role reversal for the couple. However, upon winning gold at last month's competition, feelings of elation and joy were overridden by those of relief.

"Well, thank God that's over" was Ngaire's first response after finishing first.

"I think you put all that pressure on yourself, no one else puts the pressure on you. I was just incredibly relieved, and thankful and excited and happy.

"Going into the final I thought 'to be honest this is my race to lose,' if I put it all together I could have it. So, I got really nervous.

"I tried not to think of who I was racing and decided to just execute the race plan to the best of my ability."

And she executed it pretty well, especially considering she went into the championships with a closet goal of winning.

Ngaire added if it wasn't for Richard, she would not have been in Rio.

"I didn't even really want to go to Rio, and only went because Richard was going and his team was going," she said.

"One of the things for us [is] because we do it together it helps. I trained really hard and thought I may as well go and do the best I can."

While Richard couldn't defend his world title - losing to a Tahitian, who have waka ama as their national sport - he still had no regrets.

Winning silver and bronze as part of a six-man Parihaka club team - which included Nigel Draper, Matt Kensington, Darren Collins, Gordon McKay and Tony Munroe - was enough for him.

"I knew I was off [in the single]," he said. "But the aim was more-so for the team. We were pretty happy with that, third in the 500m and second in the 1000m."

Since their adventures in Rio, the Pehis were just starting to feel the urge to get back in the waka, saying the extended season had taken a bit of a toll.

However, training will resume shortly as Northland teams prepare for the National Waka Ama Championships.