Competitor is able, prepared and consumed (9)
I believe the answer is:
candidate
'competitor' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'able prepared and consumed' is the wordplay.
'able' becomes 'can'.
'prepared' becomes 'did'.
'and' says to put letters next to each other.
'consumed' becomes 'ate' (eating is a kind of consuming).
'can'+'did'+'ate'='CANDIDATE'
'is' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for candidate that I've seen before include "who tries to get elected?" , "one seeking election" , "runner" , "Person who seeks appointment to an office" , "Applicant, nominee 99)" .)