Gold found in dry French river, a slow runner (8)
I believe the answer is:
tortoise
'a slow runner' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both animals as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe there's a link between them I don't understand?
'gold found in dry french river' is the wordplay.
'gold' becomes 'or' ('or' is the heraldic name for gold).
'found in' is an insertion indicator.
'dry' becomes 'tt' (short for teetotal - no alcohol).
'french river' becomes 'oise' (I've seen this in another clue).
'or' inserted into 'tt' is 'tort'.
'tort'+'oise'='TORTOISE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for tortoise that I've seen before include "Shelled creature" , "One shelled" , "Expected to be slow" , "Shelled animal" , "Might this animal turn to Tories?" .)