South Korea's Lee Bong-ju won the 105th Boston Marathon Monday in a time of 2 hours 9 minutes and 43 seconds, becoming his country's first champion in more than half a century.

Lee is the third South Korean to break the finish line in the race's 105-year history, after Suh Yun-bok in 1947 and Ham Kee-yong in 1950.

In 1994, his only previous appearance in the race, he finished 11th at 2:09:17.

In the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta he lost to South Africa's Josia Thugwane by three seconds. He also finished second at the 1996 Dong-A International Marathon and the 1998 Rotterdam Marathon.