Race director Victoria Murray-Orr said in a media release the change in structure would "future-proof" the event for the community.
"Challenge Wanaka has such huge potential for the town. Having just come back from Challenge Roth in Germany and seen how the entire region embraces triathlon, and the huge benefits it reaps as a result, reinforces that this is the best way forward for Challenge in Wanaka," Mrs Murray-Orr said.
A management team from Mrs Murray-Orr's company, Evenz Ltd, has been contracted to run the 2010 event.
Evenz has run the past two Challenge Wanaka festivals and Mrs Murray-Orr said she had thought long and hard about the best way forward.
Competitor numbers had increased significantly in each of the three festivals held since the event was founded in 2007.
Last year, 474 competitors took part.
More than 600 Wanaka people have been involved in the event each year as athletes, volunteers, sponsors or employed staff.
Mr Pryde is the previous president of Triathlon New Zealand and has competed twice in Challenge Wanaka.
Running the event as a charitable trust allowed Challenge Wanaka to do more for the community, Mr Pryde said.
"Anything left over from each year's operations will go back into community projects. The aim of the trust is to maximise these profits for the community after all event expenses have been paid," he said.
The other trust members are Tony Horder, Scott Findlay, John Alldred, Mrs Murray-Orr, Alistair Madill and Hils Stapper, all of Wanaka.
