More than 600 daring participants will strip down this morning at Cork’s Camden Palace Hotel and have their bodies painted in a bid to break a five-year record, set in the US.

Adjudicators from Guinness have issued strict instructions that those taking part remove all clothes except their underwear, before paint is applied to every part of their bodies.

But organisers faced a mini-crisis yesterday after a last-minute surge of applicants led to a rush on the city’s dwindling supply of thongs.

Just after midday yesterday, only Utopia, an adult shop in the city centre, had supplies left. A shop assistant said: “My phone’s been constantly ringing and I only have two or three pairs of thongs left at this stage. I would order more in, but there wouldn’t be time.”

Prior to Utopia stepping in to save the day, organisers had issued a Facebook warning, stating: “Men’s thongs have sold out in Cork. Some people are saying they are wearing jockstraps. You could also wear a woman’s thong (just make sure it’ll hold you in) or you could wear Y-fronts.”

However, chief organiser Keira O’Connell, from Cork, insisted the setback would not prevent history being made today, with the Cork Body Painting Group almost certain to smash the existing record of 264 painted bodies.

The effort begins at 8am and includes a team of 150 body paint artists.

If the record attempt isn’t enough to set pulses racing, the annual Cork World Naked Bike Ride takes place later in the afternoon.