Melbourne lifestyle couple Brodie Harper and Heath Meldrum blur the boundaries between their private and professional lives.
Brodie born and raised on Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula is part of the much-loved channel 9 television lifestyle and travel program, ‘Postcards’. Brodie has presented from every corner of Victoria and has been with the Postcards team for the past 12 years.
Brodie originally a dental nurse fell into modelling with the agency Chadwick and it was after filming a television commercial for the
Heath Meldrum is known for his athletic abilities and works with our V8 Super Car drivers on their strength and conditioning /personal training and has done so for the past 15 years. He spent 7 years travelling fulltime with Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport, ‘I’m now working with Walkinshaw Andretti United as a team and working directly with Scott Pye, racing car driver’.
Heath was, and still is a model now signed with Chadwick and has been modelling for over 20 years. Brodie says, ‘modelling has been good to us we were part of the era that was fun, we really enjoyed it, it was a different time. Social media wasn’t around then, it was the person who best fitted the brief got the job’.
Heath was scouted by Australian model and actress Krista Vendy, ‘I was working at a surf shop at the time and there was a Peninsula Bachelor of the year and I didn’t want to go in it at all, and all my mates were like you have to do it because if you win we all get free drinks for the night, and yes I won. Krista was one of the judges, she introduced me to her manager who was Greg from Giant model management, I was signed and the rest is history’.
Harper recently told channel 9’s Honey ‘she technically made the first move, shooting Meldrum a big cheeky grin through the front window of the restaurant as she left for the movies with her friends’ Meldrum later chased her down the street as she left with phone number in hand and it’s all turned out to be happily ever after for the dynamic duo with much loved daughter Jess making it a family of 3!
Health & Fitness with Brodie & Heath
How did you get into Marathon running Brodie?
Not long after the birth of Brodie and Heath’s daughter Jess, Brodie discovered a love for running which later turned into Marathon Running; without a reason the passion to run was found challenging. Harper was given the drive to push on, run harder, further away from the world and the structure of daily life and to begin to feel strangely elated, detached yet at the same time connected, connected to herself. With nothing but her own two legs moving her, Brodie began to get a vague, tingling sense of whom, or what was beginning to empower her.
‘I hated running with a passion and then I gave birth to my daughter Jess and entered a 5km run with the Mother’s Day Classic and then I said to Heath I’d like to do a half marathon as I kind of got a taste for it. The following year channel 9 sponsored the Melbourne Marathon and Heath talked me into the full Marathon which was 42.2km, I then ended up running two marathons in 8 weeks’.
‘I got pneumonia two weeks out from the Melbourne Marathon and spent a night in hospital; I asked the doctor if I’d be able to run the Marathon in two weeks and he was like, “well you’re in hospital with pneumonia”. I ended up running it and then went on to run in the Honolulu Marathon 8 weeks later’.
What’s next for Brodie?
Brodie has just announced she is an ambassador for ‘My Room’, Children’s Cancer Charity. Brodie is in current talks with a new coach to help her with training for the 1000km plus run between now and December, where she will participate in the Honolulu Marathon 26.2 miles in paradise, being
the fourth largest marathon in the United States. The Marathon will take place on Sunday, December 8, 2019. https://www.honolulumarathon.org/
Open Water Swimming with Heath!
Heath Meldrum already a competent pool swimmer and paddle boarder found it easy to transition into open water swimming. Open water swimming is known to be both liberating and adventurous which has made it so appealing to Heath. Rough conditions, cold water, sharks, tides, currents, long distances are all part of the challenge when it comes to open water swimming. Everyone has a weakness; this may come in the form of swimming through rough water and waves. Or it might present itself in cold water and hypothermia. Or it might be the fast pace and physicality of one’s competitors.
‘I did the Brunei Marathon Swim, a 5km race last year and I won that. I’ve just been to Labuan in Malaysia and just competed in the Labuan Cross Channel swim, it’s only a 6km swim but you have to swim out to the Island and back. The ocean temperature was 29.8 degrees and was like swimming in a hot bath.’
What’s next for Heath?
Heath has also been announced as an ambassador for ‘My Room’, Children’s Cancer Charity and this August will swim across the Maui Channel solo in Hawaii.
Are you supportive of each other or is their competition?
Brodie says ‘Sometimes Heath does try to give me advice on the running and will say, “In your plan on this day you should be doing this”, and I say, “Awesome idea” and nod! I will leave the house and I know I will do what was perfectly in my head to start with’.
Heath says ‘Two days later Brodie will say, “My hamstring is really sore” and I’ll be like, “maybe that’s because you did the wrong thing”’.
Brodie says ‘I could have Heath as my coach but I just don’t think you should mix business and pleasure, we’ve tried and it doesn’t work’.
Brodie and Heath are supportive of each other and both competitive individually. Heath even received a beautiful text message from daughter Jess a few weeks ago when winning an open water swim saying, ‘I’m so proud of you daddy’. Brodie adds she’s not received one of these messages as yet as her daughter kindly pointed out Brodie hasn’t won anything as yet.
I say watch this space – Melinda Sullivan Editor in Chief MMS
Photography Sam Tabone @thealistphotographers
Location – Southgate Melbourne
To donate to My Room and support Brodie and Heath click the linkhttps://myroom.com.au/#/
