Were without head-start in what position? (5)
I believe the answer is:
where
'position?' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'were without head-start' is the wordplay.
'without' is an insertion indicator ('without' can be similar in meaning to 'outside').
'head-start' becomes 'h' (start of the word 'head-').
'were' placed around 'h' is 'WHERE'.
'in what' 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 where that I've seen before include "At which point" , "enquiry" , "a question of location" , "In which position?" , "A question of place?" .)