Bikini-clad Australians set beachside record

SYDNEY, Sep 26 (Reuters) More than 1,000 Australian women today donned free bikinis on Sydney's Bondi Beach for a group photograph to win a spot in the Guinness World Book of Records.

''This was certainly one of the more spectacular world records that I've been invited to adjudicate on,'' said Chris Sheedy, a representative for Guinness World Records.

''As an Australian myself, it's logical that any record involving sun, sand and surf should be held in this country.'' Bondi lifeguards turned their ocean-front headquarters into a dressing room to allow each women to change into her bikini.

The skimpy swimwear made its debut in 1946. Hoping it would be worn by beautiful ''bombshells'', the designers named it after Bikini Atoll, an atomic bomb test site in the Marshall Islands.

REUTERS SG BD1135