The German runner in UK crowned by one in French clothing (9)
I believe the answer is:
underwear
'clothing' is the definition.
(underwear is a kind of clothing)
'the german runner' is the wordplay.
'the german' becomes 'under' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'runner' becomes 'wear' (river in the north east of England).
'under'+'wear'='UNDERWEAR'
'in uk crowned by one in french' is the link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for underwear that I've seen before include "Combinations, say" , "Lingerie" , "Smalls,shorts,lingerie etc" , "Hidden clothing" , "Vest, pants etc" .)