A Taoist temple in Changhua County yesterday said it plans to give away about 4,000 free “lucky caps” over the four-day Double Ten National Day holiday to meet popular demand since an athlete wearing one finished first in a major international race last month.
Puyan Shunze Temple (埔鹽順澤宮) said it would hand out 1,000 caps daily from tomorrow until Sunday to people who were not able to order them in advance.
The temple has been flooded with orders for the cap since Norwegian athlete Gustav Iden on Sept. 8 won a triathlon in France wearing a baseball cap with the temple’s name on it.
Initially, anyone who put in an order for the cap was given one for free, but due to the high demand, the temple stopped accepting orders after Sept. 15, temple official Wei Hsin-ku (魏信顧) told a news conference.
However, thanks to a donation of NT$200,000 by worshipers, the temple has obtained another 4,000 caps, which are to be distributed to the public during the holiday, Wei said, inviting the public to visit Changhua County.
Before the cutoff date on Sept. 15, the temple had received orders for about 41,000 caps, of which 33,000 have been collected, he said.
People who have not yet picked up their orders will have until the end of this month to do so, Wei said.
The cap, bearing the name of the temple in Chinese, was worn by 23-year-old Iden in the 70.3km 2019 Ironman World Championship in Nice.
Iden reportedly found it on a street in Tokyo the previous month.
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