Ex-Navy Seals And Elite Athletes Take On The Wilds Of Patagonia- "Project Acheron" Special Airs On NBC - Sunday, August 3rd At 3 PM ET

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Aug 01, 2014, 04:11 ET

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Aug. 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- "Project Acheron," an adrenaline-filled, one-hour special featuring world-class athletes testing their limits in the wilds of Patagonia for nine grueling days, is set to air on Sunday, August 3rd at 3pm ET/12pm PST on NBC.

"Project Acheron," an adrenaline-filled, one-hour special featuring world-class athletes testing their limits in the wilds of Patagonia for nine grueling days, is set to air on Sunday, August 3rd at 3pm ET/12pm PST on NBC. Four elite athletes cross the proverbial river of pain to undergo transformation in a way no cross-training program has ever done before. (PRNewsFoto/Red Bull Media House)

Four elite athletes cross the proverbial river of pain to undergo transformation in a way no cross-training program has ever done before. The athletes – expedition kayaker Rafa Ortiz, surf ironman Australian Matt Poole, big-wave surfer Ian Walsh and multisport waterman Kai Lenny – are guided by two former Navy Seals who purposely create high-performance challenges at every turn. The River Acheron, also known as the River of Pain, forms the border of Hell in Dante's Inferno, and serves as a metaphor for the Red Bull High Performance Program's Project Acheron.

Dr. Andy Walshe, Red Bull's High Performance director, wanted to design a program that would challenge athletes holistically – body, mind and spirit. Influenced by Eastern philosophy and the training tactics of Samurai warriors, Shaolin monks and other ancient warriors known for their physical – and spiritual – mastery of self, his training results not only in better athletic performance, but a stronger individual of a higher consciousness transformed through experiential hardship. Born of this thinking, Red Bull Project Acheron essentially merges extreme environments, the power of the unknown, and elite athletes into a highly engineered and singular athletic training experiment. The mission also has a scientific purpose, as the athletes' brains are scanned pre- and post-trip to analyze how the brain reacts and adapts to stress.

"There is little I can teach these athletes about their own disciplines. But what I could do was engineer a program so challenging that it'd yank them right out of their comfort zones, pushing their limits physically, mentally, and spiritually," said Walshe.

The Northern Patagonian Ice Field in Aysén, Southern Chile, offers a remote, wild region with steep mountains and dangerous, unpredictable weather. The television special grabs the viewer and takes them into its heart-pounding epic journey. The athletes scale sheer rock walls, paddle frigid waters, cross glaciers, and push through exhaustion as they attempt to summit a mountain where no human has before ventured.

"This mountain really shifted me, and that's why I came here. I wanted to be able to feel like I'm a 100 times stronger mentally and physically," said Lenny. "One of the best trips of my life, hands down."

Click here for a preview of Project Acheron on NBC:

http://win.gs/1oLmrWS

Read more about the project here:

http://www.redbulletin.com/us/us/sports/the-river-of-pain

About Red Bull Media House
A global media company, Red Bull Media House produces, publishes, distributes and licenses high-quality sport, entertainment and educational programming from the areas of Sport & Lifestyle, Nature & Science and Tradition & Inspiration. Its product portfolio includes sport and lifestyle programming, documentaries, feature films, music, games and mobile apps, as well as print and online magazines, that fascinate and inspire audiences all over the world – through all media channels and on all types of devices. www.redbullmediahouse.com.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140801/132710

SOURCE Red Bull Media House