Dicky led rush in race (7)
I believe the answer is:
hurdles
'race' is the definition.
(hurdles is a kind of race)
'dicky led rush' is the wordplay.
'dicky' indicates an anagram (dicky can mean ill or non-functioning).
'led'+'rush'='ledrush'
'ledrush' anagrammed gives 'HURDLES'.
'in' is the link.
(Other definitions for hurdles that I've seen before include "Race with jumping" , "Fences" .)