OK, here's a rare but not unheard of scenario:
A course is certified, but come race day, or even while the race is underway, it becomes unrunnable as measured (the road collapses/floods, there's an accident/fire/bomb threat on the route, or the runners are misdirected by a course marshall).
The organizers come up w/ an alternate route that approximates the unrunnable distance. After the race a measurer rides the alternate course and finds it is at least the original course distance.
Should we cut the organizer (and just as importantly, the runners) some slack and consider the course certified as of race date? After all, they had a course measured in good faith, and were prevented from following it only by what some would consider an "Act of (Running) God."
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