Current and former Australian Defence Force members have poured into Canberra from around the country to take part in the gruelling 80km ANZAC Warriors Walk this weekend.
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The event began at 7am on Saturday and will continue today, winding its way past some of the nation's most iconic sights.
The Canberra walk has already raised $17,000 for the Veterans Sporting Association and the donations are continuing to climb.
Event organiser Ian Bone, who grew up in Canberra, joined the army and is now based in Townsville, said a lot of his friends had come back from deployments affected by post-traumatic stress disorder.
"I could see there was a need for more networks of support outside the existing ones and found the Veterans Sporting Association which is a really healthy, positive environment," he said.
The VSA is a not-for-profit organisation founded by veterans about two years ago to help returned service personnel re-engage with their peers and the community through physical training.
VSA spokesman Paul Cale said research in the US had shown sport could be very valuable in treating PTSD.
"If you have two veterans of Afghanistan but they didn't serve together then they don't know each other but sport allows them to get to know each other through shared experiences," he said.
"The organisation started as a combat sports club at the 2 Commando Regiment and it was there to help enhance soldiers' close combat skills. They were veterans of multiple tours.
"What we actually found was it started calming soldiers down and acted as an outlet ... so we started to expand the club into other bases."
The Canberra ANZAC Warriors Walk members are fundraising through the Everyday Hero website at: www.everydayhero.com.au/event/AWW-ACT2014
