Kirkland resident Janice Stone has earned her third gold medal at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston.

Stone took first in the Senior Women’s Veterans II age group for women single scullers of ages 75-79 with a time of 26 minutes, 10 seconds. The Head of the Charles is the largest two-day regatta in the world. About 11,000 athletes compete in over 1,900 boats in 61 events, and the event attracts around 300,000 spectators during the weekend.

Stone, who began rowing in 1995 after retiring, previously took the gold in 2010, where she also set the course record, as well as 2011. This year marks her 15th single rowing race, having competed in the women’s 4s and 8s several times until rowing singles exclusively in 2000.

Although she raced in her respective age group, Stone said the actual race itself featured women from five age categories, all over 60, with their starting positions based on their previous year’s ranking.

“I was the first in my group, which was the senior veterans age 75-79,” she said, “but I was preceded by a few people faster than me and many people younger than I, who were still starting after me. The ones starting right after me had been very close to me in time, so I was very worried about those people. Even though I wasn’t racing them, I was working very hard to stay out in front of them, and I had to work to do that. But I did succeed in staying in front of all of them. They were inspiring me to keep going forward.”

The Head of the Charles is particularly well known for its difficult course, in which rowers are penalized if they fail to make the proper turns around buoys. Additionally, for single rowers facing backwards, there is no coxswain to help navigate. On top of that, Stone said, there was also headwind that made navigating tricky, but still manageable.

Although she’s pleased with securing first place, Stone said the greater achievement was racing the way she had prepared and doing so according to plan based on her training.

“I think actually it’s even more important to have a plan and to carry it out well and feel that I didn’t make any big mistakes,” she said. “If there’s somebody faster than I am, then so be it, but there is a great satisfaction in being ready and carrying out the race the way you had it planned.”

Another satisfaction is being able to train and compete without sustaining injuries that could threaten her ability to row in the future.

“There’s a sense which I’m always concerned about whether I’ll be able to maintain my strength, whether I’ll be able to stay healthy, to train enough to be ready,” she said. “I usually don’t feel ready, but this year I did, surprisingly enough, feel really ready. I was looking forward to the race and I could hardly wait for it to come. Usually I feel like I need a few more weeks.”

Additionally, Stone said her long-term goal isn’t so much her performance during the races but being able to participate. She trains with the Pocock Rowing Foundation, which she said “makes this all possible.”

“I’ve been fortunate to win it three times,” she said, “but I still want to do it whether I would win or not. We did have an 88-year-old entry, and I hope when I’m 88, I’ll be doing it, too.”

Former Bellevue residents, Stone and her husband Harold recently moved to Kirkland.