Gets a kick out of river craft (5)
I believe the answer is:
punts
'gets' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to competing as well as being verbs in their -s form.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'a kick out of river craft' is the wordplay.
'a kick' becomes 'punt' (punt is a kind of kick).
'out of river craft' becomes 's' (I can't explain this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'punt'+'s'='PUNTS'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for punts that I've seen before include "Flat-bottomed boats" , "river-craft" , "bets" , "kicks" , "Stakes" .)