Competition bird left at ten before noon (9)

I believe the answer is:

emulation

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'competition' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'bird left at ten before noon' is the wordplay.
'bird' becomes 'emu' (emu is a type of bird).
'left' becomes 'l' (common abbreviation).
'ten' becomes 'IO' (IO resembles n0).
'before noon' becomes 'n' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'emu'+'l'+'at'+'io'+'n'='EMULATION'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for emulation that I've seen before include "mimicry" , "Act of attempting to match or surpass" , "Following" , "Imitative rivalry" , "Imitation" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.

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