The first group of women rest, running from whirlwind (7)
I believe the answer is:
twister
'whirlwind' is the definition.
(I know that whirlwind can be written as twister)
'the first group of women rest running' is the wordplay.
'the first' becomes 't' (1st letter of 'the').
'group of women' becomes 'WI' (Women's Institute).
'running' indicates anagramming the letters (the letters run around to different places).
'rest' is an anagram of 'ster'.
't'+'wi'+'ster'='TWISTER'
'from' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for twister that I've seen before include "One-eyed menace" , "Swindler; tornado (US)" , "'sixties dancer?" , "Cheat - tornado" , "Crook - tornado" .)