At the IAAF-labeled Houston Marathon in 2017, Ondoro ran most of the race with a large group that included Ethiopian Olympians Yitayal Atnafu and Abayneh Ayele.
[8] In 2014, he became the new course record holder at Grandma's Marathon, which runs from Two Harbors to Duluth, Minnesota, by winning in a time of 2:09:06.
[9] "I've been honored to hold the record for that long, but now it's time to pass it on," Beardsley said after being one of the first people to congratulate Ondoro for his victory.
Phil Coppess had set the record in 1985, when he ran the course in 2:10:05, one of the fastest American marathons of all time.
Both he and second-place winner Elisha Barno ran faster than the winning time at the 2016 Chicago Marathon.
Ondoro has won the Twin Cities race, which runs from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to St. Paul, four times: 2015,[17] 2016, [18] 2017, [19] and 2019.
Ondoro was born in Kenya and lives in Uasin Gishu County, where many elite marathoners train.
He and Elisha Barno, another elite marathon runner, train together in Eldoret, Kenya, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.