Find time before a competition (5)
I believe the answer is:
trace
'find' is the definition.
(I know that find is the is a more specific form of the action of trace.)
'time before a competition' is the wordplay.
'time' becomes 't' (abbreviation).
'before' says to put letters next to each other.
'a competition' becomes 'race' (race is a kind of competition).
't'+'race'='TRACE'
(Other definitions for trace that I've seen before include "Hunt down" , "Skimpy garment" , "plan" , "Barely detectable amount" , "Copy; describe; draw" .)