race against time - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

race against time (plural races against time)

1. (idiomatic) A situation in which something must be done hurriedly, before a deadline.
   • December 15 2022, Samanth Subramanian, “Dismantling Sellafield: the epic task of shutting down a nuclear site”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Dealing with all the radioactive waste left on site is a slow-motion race against time, which will last so long that even the grandchildren of those working on site will not see its end. The process will cost at least £121bn.

• race against the clock