BEVERLY, Mass. — When Dorothy Stewart told her 6-year-old great-grandson one day that she didn’t really want to get down on the floor to play with him, he responded, “C’mon, Gigi. You’re only 95. You’re not 100.”

“Only 95” pretty much sums up Stewart. Three days a week she arrives at a coastal Massachusetts YMCA when it opens at 5:45 a.m. and works out for two hours. On the days she doesn’t go to the Y, she does 125 sit-ups at home while holding 8-pound weights in each hand. She still drives, cooks, cleans and babysits Parker Alan, her great-grandson.

Last week she added another distinction — world champion of her age group on an indoor rowing machine. 

Last Sunday at the CRASH-B Sprints World Indoor Championship at Boston University, Stewart competed as the only rower in the women’s over-90 category.

She rowed 2,000 meters in a time of 14 minutes and 55 seconds, setting a new world record for being the first woman in her category to finish the race. 

“I’m still on cloud nine,” she said Friday.

The annual event draws thousands of rowers from around the world and last year, the oldest competing women was 86-year-old Sally Callahan. Ernestine Baylor was the last woman to compete in the over 90 category when she participated in 2000. 

Stewart, who goes by Dottie, has been a YMCA member for 62 years and always liked the rowing machine. She had never taken part in a competition, but was convinced to do so by her friend, Colleen Tchorz.

“I have a friend who does it every year,” Tchorz said. “I could see those two on the rowing machines together, and I got the idea, because I knew Dottie could do it.”

Stewart said she’s always believed she could accomplish anything she put her mind to. 

Stewart, whose husband died seven years ago, also credits her faith, saying God has given her “hope and peace and joy and love.”

“I’ve just had a wonderful life,” she said. “People say I’m lucky, but I say I’m blessed.”

Stewart is reluctant to talk about the obstacles she’s overcome, but when pressed, she cites an impressive list — a broken hip, arm, hand, both wrists and spine (five times). She’s had skin cancer and has lost seven inches (from 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-1) due to osteoporosis.

“I hate being short,” she said. “I loved being tall.”

On the day of the event, Stewart said she was a bit overwhelmed when she saw all of the competitors. She stepped on a scale to determine her weight class — at 106 pounds, she was a lightweight — and was then assigned to a rowing machine, with a judge sitting behind her.

When the public address announcer pointed out there was a 95-year-old woman in the competition, the crowd started cheering for her. When she finished under 15 minutes, well ahead of her training times, she threw her hands in the air and kicked up her heels.

“She got very emotional because she was thinking of her husband and her son,” her daughter, Donna Blanchard, said.

Stewart was given a gold medal and a large hammer that serves as a trophy for the winners. A fellow rower asked to have her picture taken with her.

“Everybody was crying,” Stewart said. “Somebody said, ‘Look at her row and not a hair out of place.’”

Stewart said she woke up the next morning and had to pinch herself when she remembered she was a world champion.

“I’m looking forward to next year already,” she said.

Leighton writes for the North Andover, Massachusetts Eagle Tribune.