And, as well as for his great-grandfather Ted, Mr McCardle will march to honour a second great-grandfather from his father's side, Claude McCardle, who came from Pahiatua.
Mr McCardle said he hadn't done a "huge amount of training" but was confident he would be able to complete the walk, which his mother had inspired him to sign up for.
"After a few minutes of 'bloody hell what have I signed up to', I decided to take on the challenge, after all if my ancestors could do it there's no reason I can't.
"I expect there to be some tough parts, that's for sure."
The sales consultant said the march's early start "shouldn't be too much of a problem" once surrounded by the other enthusiastic walkers.
"In hindsight, it's easy for us to say my great-grandfathers' efforts were incredibly courageous given we know the gruesome years they'd serve at the front.
"That being said, being of a similar age and position to them, I can easily say I'd have readily leapt forward as they did to serve alongside our allies."
Claude McCardle signed up to the army at 21. At the time, he was living in Palmerston North working for Millar and Giorgi Menswear.
He was the grandson of the founder of Pahiatua, William Wilson McCardle.
Claude's war service began in Trentham, in October 1915, as a rifleman in the 3rd Battalion, 3rd NZ (Rifle) Brigade (A Company).
He was in the Battalion Band. He served in Egypt and at the first Battle of the Somme in France.
In 1916, he received a severe wound to his left ankle from a fragment of flying shrapnel.
In August 1917, Claude was discharged as medically unfit, wounded in action.
According to family tradition, this injury never healed properly and meant he was unable to take on the family farm.
After the war he and his brother, also a returned serviceman, established C & C McCardle menswear in Pahiatua.
Claude married a Pahiatua nurse and raised four children, William (Bill), Hugh, Graham and Diane.
He played in the Pahiatua Brass Band and, at one time, was the national B-flat euphonium champion.
His son, Graham, remembered him as a brilliant shot with the .22 and shotgun and a good trout fisherman who tied his own flies.
Claude was a staunch member of the Forest and Bird Society and died when he was 68.
Ted was the grandson of the pioneering Bibby family, who established the Bibby Store in Waipawa in 1862.
He was working in the store when he signed up for military service in 1916, at 20, as a private in the 23rd Battalion, Otago Regiment (F Company).
He sailed for England aboard the Ruapehu, leaving Wellington in March 1917.
Shortly after arriving in Etaples training camp in France, in July 1917, he developed severe pneumonia and nearly died.
Ted was shipped to England where he spent time at New Zealand military hospitals in Walton, Hornchurch and Codford.
After his recovery, he was sent to Sling Camp and returned to Etaples in February, 1918.
In the following month, Ted rejoined the Otago Regiment and saw action during the remainder of the war, during which time he was wounded.
After the war ended, he returned to Sling Camp and left England for home, aboard the Tahiti, in May 1919.
He went on farming at the family farm at Ongaonga where he met his future wife, Mabel Hutchinson, a governess, from a pioneering Norwegian family.
They raised six children on the farm.
Ms Bibby, who was also raised on the family farm, said her grandfather had written prolifically about his service, in diaries and letters home, and was interviewed by military historians.
"He was a Christian and found strength in his faith and in prayer," she said.
Ted founded the Ongaonga Museum in 1966, was a Justice of the Peace, superintendent of the Ongaonga Interdenominational Sunday School for 50 years, and a writer of local history.
He was awarded the MBE in 1974 for his contribution to the community.
Ms Bibby said her grandfather regularly maintained the Anzac memorial flower-beds at Ongaonga, right up into his 90s.
Ted died in 1991 at the age of 95.
