It's out of Gateshead the runner started (5)
I believe the answer is:
began
'started' is the definition.
('begin' can be a synonym of 'start')
'it's out of gateshead the runner' is the wordplay.
'it's out of' means one lot of letters goes inside another (some letters on the outside of others).
'gateshead' becomes 'g' (head letter of 'gates').
'the runner' becomes 'bean' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'g' put into 'bean' is 'BEGAN'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for began that I've seen is " Commenced, started".)