Boat race oddly grips one — like spectacular flying! (9)

I believe the answer is:

aerobatic

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'spectacular flying' is the definition.
The definition suggests an adjective which matches the answer.

'boat race oddly grips one' is the wordplay.
'oddly' indicates anagramming the letters.
'grips' indicates putting letters inside.
'one' becomes 'i' (Roman numeral).
'boat'+'race'='boatrace'
'boatrace' with letters rearranged gives 'aerobatc'.
'aerobatc' placed around 'i' is 'AEROBATIC'.

'like' is the link.

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(Another definition for aerobatic that I've seen is " Like feats of flying".)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

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