People in the running (4)
I believe the answer is:
race
I believe this is a double definition.
'people' is the first definition.
(people can mean a national group or race)
'the running' is the second definition.
(thesaurus)
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for race that I've seen before include "See 23" , "compete to come first" , "Run, dash" , "Rush" , "descent" .)