Hillsborough 12-Year-Old Boy Bikes 500 Miles For Childhood Cancer

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Doing anything for 500 miles is a huge accomplishment, and even more so for 12-year-old Nathan Bienstock.

Nathan, a 7th grader at Auten Road Intermediate School, challenged himself to ride his bike for 500 miles over the 30 days of September in an effort to raise money for childhood cancer in honor of his friend Arjun Jain.

Nathan and Arjun were hockey teammates for their 2017-18 season. During the summer of 2018, they were in the locker room before a game when Arjun's dad got a call asking him to bring Arjun to the hospital immediately. Arjun was later diagnosed with leukemia, Nathan's dad David said.

"It was the last time Nathan played with him. It made an impact," David Bienstock said. "That kind of resonated with Nathan and everyone that was there."

Arjun has since won his fight with leukemia, but Nathan still wanted to make a difference. He signed up to participate in the Great Cycle Challenge USA to ride 500 miles and raise $1,500 during the month of September for Children’s Cancer Research Fund (CCRF).

It was a challenge for Nathan but he said he took it one day at a time.

"I just kept going, chipped away at it every day. At the halfway point in the month, I only had 150 miles. I didn't have a lot of time with the start of school, baseball, and hockey academy. But I just chipped at it every day. And then the last two days I did 100 miles," Nathan said.

Nathan not only completed the challenge but surpassed it, riding 501 miles to end the month, even while managing his commitment to his Rockets team at Bridgewater Sports Center, and Hillsborough Raiders 11U baseball team.

"It feels good, I'm pretty proud of myself," Nathan said.

Nathan's parents were very proud of his accomplishment.

"He's the type of kid that doesn't leave things hanging. We knew he would finish. … It is a nice thing for anyone to do and to have a 12-year-old say I am doing this and in the name of [Arjun], who had a huge impact on how he views things is inspirational," Nathan’s mom Liz said. "We are very proud of him. Very impressed he was able to achieve that goal."

To learn more about Nathan’s Great Cycle Challenge USA and to make a donation, visit greatcyclechallenge.com/Riders/NathanBienstock.

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