Gareth Holebrook in a Kiwiman 2026 T-shirt, smiling and holding up a copy of Ishi
Photo: Scotty T Photography.

The Author

Gareth A Holebrook

Engineer, Coach, Triathlete, Author, Farmer

Career

  1. Royal NavyTrained as a Weapons Engineering Artificer in the early 1990s.
  2. Sony, NavmanEngineer at Sony, then senior delivery and leadership roles at Navman.
  3. 2004Founded PerformO, a biohacking technology company.
  4. 2011Agile coach, leadership adviser and executive coach across technology, enterprise and regulated environments.
  5. 2026Ishi: The Discipline of Determined Intent, PerformO Publishing, foreword by L. David Marquet.

Endurance

Kona, 2022

Between 2005 and 2025, Gareth completed ultra-endurance events including Ironman, and represented New Zealand more than 10 times. He raced the Ironman World Championship in Kona in 2022, after an 18-year pursuit.

Endurance sport did not teach him motivation; it taught him constraint, recovery, judgement and the cost of ungoverned persistence.

Gareth A Holebrook crossing the finish line of the Ironman World Championship in Kona, 2022
Scotty T, photographer, riding pillion on a motorbike with his camera raised
Gareth A Holebrook side-on in the aero position below Mount Taranaki in the Kiwiman Double, 2021
Photo: Scotty T Photography.

Scotty T

Scotty T took many of the photographs on this site. He followed Gareth round the Kiwiman Double in 2021, taking photographs and supporting him, and he is coming to Norseman in Norway in 2027 to photograph him there.

Gareth A Holebrook with Kaizen the Kaimanawa on the smallholding in Northland

Northland

Waipu

Gareth lives in Waipu with his wife, Dr Thiri Aung-Holebrook. Together the couple run a 20-acre smallholding with livestock, apple orchards and horses, including Kaizen the Kaimanawa, a rescued horse.

Three paperback copies of Ishi: The Discipline of Determined Intent by Gareth A Holebrook, foreword by L. David Marquet

IshiThe Discipline of Determined Intent