KATIE Ingram and Sarah Tunstall gave England a 1-2 finish in the women’s Up-and-Down Race at the Commonwealth Cham-pionships for mountain and ultra distance runners in Keswick.

Ingram, of Chorley, ended the tournament with three gold medals and one silver having already taken second in the Uphill Race, while the England women took team gold in both events.

England was the dominant country in all the mountain running contests with men also taking both team gold medals.

Salford Harrier Billy Burns from Lostock won bronze in the Up-and-Down race and Rob Hope from Wheelton 15th in the Uphill run after being called up as a late replacement.

In glorious sunshine, Ingram got her tactics just right on Sunday, as the fast starting Tunstall made an early bid.

Keeping the Clitheroe physiotherapist in her sights on the first lap around Latrigg, Ingram struck at the beginning of the second on the steepest part of the course as they climbed back to the summit.

It was a test of strength as she had raced to the top of Skiddaw only two days earlier, but she created a winning margin of 48 seconds on the descent back to Fitz Park.

Ingram had nearly a minute in hand over the Kenyan Pamela Bundotich, who split the Brits as Kate Goodhead took fourth.

The trio scored seven points to take the Team title by a decisive 25 points from New Zealand.

The only athlete to get the better of Ingram all weekend was Kiwi Anna Frost, last year’s world mountain running Grand Prix winner.

The Uphill race was a similar length at around eight kilometres, but instead of turning around at the summit of Latrigg, it carried on to the top of Skiddaw, making the total climb 850 metres.

Ingram made her move on the short downhill section just after Latrigg, and maintained her advantage for two kilometres before she was overhauled, finally finishing 37 seconds behind.

With Rebecca Robinson from Kendal third and Victoria Wilkinson fifth, it was another comfortable win for the team.

Ingram has had a glorious career since running her first fell race in 1999 and winning the English U14 Championships and her first England vest in that same year.

She went on to win the English U16 and U18 Championships and progressed via the U20s and U23s to be a regular in the senior England and Great Britain teams.

Now she is putting it aside to pursue Olympic success.

Following a holiday, the 24-year old will spend the next year on an intensive course at Loughborough which she hopes will replicate the success of fell runner Alistair Brownlee, who recently became the world triathlon champion.

The Trigold programme starts in October with three months focusing on the swimming, cycling and running disciplines.

A nine month scholarship follows which aims to provide the required skills to join the British triathlon world class programme at the end of 2010. The ultimate aim is land Britain’s first Olympic triathlon medal.