Raced up before judge to recount events (7)
I believe the answer is:
narrate
'recount events' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'raced up before judge' is the wordplay.
'raced' becomes 'ran' ('run' can be a synonym of 'race').
'up' says the letters should be written backwards (in down clue: letters go upwards).
'before' says to put letters next to each other.
'judge' becomes 'rate' (rating is a kind of judging).
'ran' written backwards gives 'nar'.
'nar'+'rate'='NARRATE'
'to' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for narrate that I've seen before include "recount events" , "Rare ant (anag.)" , "Relate events" , "Tell a story, recite" , "tell tales" .)