BALANCE BAR COMPETITION OFFERS A BIT OF EVERYTHING.

Byline: Kirby Lee Special to the Daily News

Tom Kommer, Lee Szromba and Danny Trudeau are best of friends and training partners, but there is little kinship when it comes to competitions.

That will change Friday when they team in the Balance Bar 24-hour adventure at Leo Carrillo State Beach.

Kommer, Szromba and Trudeau will be among nearly 100 three-person teams attempting to navigate a 75-mile course, kayaking in the Pacific Ocean and traversing the Santa Monica Mountains through mountain biking, running, trekking, rappelling, coasteering and navigation.

Perhaps the most important skill is the ability to work as a team.

``Teamwork is everything,'' said Szromba, 42, of Saugus. ``You have to stay together and have to be there for the other guy whether you are feeling strong or not.''

Szromba has known Kommer, 35, of Saugus and Trudeau, 48, of Granada Hills for nearly 10 years. The three became friends while training for and competing in triathlons. They have also participated in several shorter adventure races with and against one another, including the night Hi-Tec competition at Castaic Lake in March.

``We're all very competitive and wish the best for us in a triathlon, but we want to beat the people we know,'' Kommer said. ``The great thing about adventure racing is to be able to race with friends that you train with.''

The event is the brainchild of Agoura's Michael Epstein, who envisioned the 24-hour adventure as an extension of his Hi-Tec Adventure series, a shorter competition that takes three to seven hours.

The 24-hour adventure will offer new challenges with the high winds and choppy waters of open-water kayaking and climbing in the rugged Santa Monica Mountains. Fatigue from competing nonstop over 24 hours - and possibly longer - will also be a factor.

The winning time in the inaugural 24-hour adventure was 23 hours, 31 minutes. No other team ran under 24 hours and only 31 of 84 teams finished. It's not uncommon for first-time competitors to be on the course for 35-48 hours.

There will be entrants from New York, Arizona, Maryland, Idaho, Wisconsin and Connecticut as well as California. There will be teams of firefighters, police officers, marine corps and coast guard rescuers. Some teams have been formed through Internet relationships. They will meet for the first time at the race, a disadvantage over teams such as Kommer, Szromba and Trudeau.

``So much is knowing your teammates and their strengths and weaknesses when you are tired, cold and nipping at each other,'' Kommer said. ``When you are doing a race, you are extremely proud and don't want to tell your teammates you are hurting.''

Kommer, Szromba and Trudeau have named their team ``Sea Donkeys,'' a phrase they picked up from a comedy movie and used for a tired and haggard look. It is expected to be used frequently during the 24-hour adventure.

``You are training and in good shape physically and then the mental aspect comes in,'' said Trudeau, who participated in last year's 24-hour adventure. ``It is tough focusing on what you have to do and tiring after 18 to 20 hours with your body shutting down. You have to pretty sharp mentally and have a good attitude.''

Kommer, Szromba and Trudeau have done several overnight training sessions. Two weeks ago, the three got a trial run for Friday's race during a 17-hour competition. They lost significant time after missing two checkpoints because of difficulty navigating. The three hope to avoid similar pitfalls this weekend.

``The quickest way might not be the shortest way to the next checkpoint,'' Trudeau said. ``The longer way may be faster because it is less taxing on your body.''

Trudeau, a swimmer at Appalachian State in North Carolina, has taken the longer route when it comes to training. He completed the famed Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii with its 2.4-mile ocean swim, 112-mile bike ride and marathon in 1992, the Western States 100-mile endurance run last year and has run nearly 20 marathons.

Trudeau, an automotive technician, swims, lifts weights or runs before dawn. After work, Trudeau goes for a night bike ride a couple of times a weekend. On weekends, he logs a 2- to 3-hour run that could span 20 miles.

Szromba, a sales manager for alighting company, also hails from a swimming background. He stopped swimming after graduating from Birmingham High in Van Nuys. After a 10-year layoff, he began training for triathlons in 1985 as a way to lose weight. Szromba has competed in the Lake San Antonio Triathlon and has aspirations of completing the Ironman Provo triathlon in Utah in June.

Kommer, who played basketball at Notre Dame High of Sherman Oaks, has the most varied workout regimen of the three. In addition to running,biking and swimming, Kommer, the owner of a Burbank-based electrical contracting business, also includes surfing and basketball in his training.

``In this type of sport, it is about how long you can keep your legs and arms moving when you want to go to sleep and your eyes want to close,'' Kommer said. ``Anything you do is going to help you. In basketball, you are running nonstop. You need balance for surfing. If you don't have good balance, you are going to slip off a trail and fall 500 feet.''

The 24-hour adventure will offer a prize purse of $20,000, the largest for an adventure competition, and will serve as the adventure racing national championship.

Among the elites, Harald Zundel, Marc Secades and Bettina Ernst of defending champion Team Venture Four, will be challenged by Team Kool Tie featuring world champion triathlete Mike Pigg and world champion mountain bikers Mike Klower and Danelle Ballengee and a Team Eco-Internet team of Robert Nagle, Terry Schneider and David Kelly.

The majority of the competitors like Kommer, Szromba and Trudeau, who fork out a $1,200 entry, will be competing for reasons other than financial gain.

``We're thrill seekers,'' Kommer said. ``We're not trying to make a living out of this. The greatest satisfaction at the finish comes from getting something that you worked so hard for.''