Sends up European surrounded by runners (5)
I believe the answer is:
skies
'sends up' is the definition.
(sky can mean to hit very high into the air)
'european surrounded by runners' is the wordplay.
'european' becomes 'E' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'surrounded by' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'runners' becomes 'skis' (ski is a kind of runner).
'e' going inside 'skis' is 'SKIES'.
(Other definitions for skies that I've seen before include "Hits high in the air" , "Heavens" .)