Ironman gold medalist Gustav Iden has arrived in Changhua for a three-day visit. Apart from visiting local attractions, he fired the starting gun at the Tianzhong Marathon and helped to promote local agricultural specialties. Changhua County Magistrate Wang Hui-mei presented him with an honorary resident certificate and said she hopes Iden can help promote Taiwan and Changhua internationally.


Wearing a chef's hat, Ironman world champion Gustav Iden promotes Changhua's agricultural specialties alongside Changhua County Magistrate Wang Hui-mei. Iden is in Taiwan on a three-day visit and received an honorary resident certificate from Wang.

A connection between (him) and Changhua was borne from a hat. During these three days, he truly experienced the warmth of the people of Changhua and the people of Taiwan. He loves our county. He especially enjoyed visiting Changhua Roadhouse this morning.

Changhua's Puyan Shunzhe Temple shot to fame earlier this year after Iden crossed the finish line at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship wearing a cap from the temple. The local government recently invited Iden to visit, and says he is the best ambassador for the county.

When I first got off the plane and go straight into the temple, I was blown away by all the, all the people that was there wearing "my" hat. (Your hat). Yeah, it was so cool to see so many people there, and it's been just nonstop energy going on.

Iden says people in Taiwan are friendly and vibrant, and he enjoyed seeing everyone's outfits at the Tianzhong Marathon. He also said he was very surprised by the lobsters at marathon aid stations and would love to visit Taiwan again after the Tokyo Olympics next year.



戴上廚師帽，挪威籍的三鐵世界冠軍伊登，和彰化縣長王惠美一起做料理，一同行銷彰化的農特產品，這次伊登來台的第三天行程，除了化身農特產代言人，彰化縣長還特別頒發榮譽縣民證書給伊登。

彰化縣長 王惠美表示：「為了一頂帽子，然後跟彰化結了這個緣，那這三天來我們彰化人，我們台灣人的熱情啊，他真的也感受到，那他也非常喜歡我們這個地方，像我們早上帶他去看扇形車庫，他也覺得非常的神奇。」

王惠美表示，伊登因為戴著埔鹽順澤宮的帽子，拿下了法國尼斯的三鐵世界冠軍，讓順澤宮一夕出名，縣府也順利邀請到伊登來彰化參觀訪問，伊登也成為彰化縣最好的行銷大使。

挪威籍三鐵世界冠軍 伊登表示：「在東京的時候撿到這一頂帽子，結果接著這三個月，發生人生非常奇妙的事情，連想都沒有想到，彰化這麼的熱情。」

伊登表示，他覺得台灣人相當熱情、也很有活力，他非常喜歡，特別是參加田中馬拉松時，看到不少人精心打扮，而補給站出現龍蝦也讓他很驚訝，他說明年東京奧運後，會再回來拜訪，期待看到台灣更多不一樣的文化。