This reminds me of a small town 5k race I was in. Was held in the center of the city with halfway point going into subdivision. I was confident I'd be near podium and was racing for time so I studied tangents, and studied all of the landmarks on the current map.
During the race there was a pack of 3 and because of the city a Police Car was the leader. At halfway I'm focusing ahead looking for the lead pack making the turn...Never happened!
Immediately I thought I'm running the race I paid for and went according to the Map, for the next one mile I had two police cars catch up and say I was going the wrong way, "You went the Wrong Way!!!" I shouted, instead of getting lactic I reset with a new threshold and kept it the last half mile bearing the rest of the field by 3:30 lol as the rest of the field ran 3.8mi
At the awards the RD said often times the city official only looks at the map day of "runners responsibility" etc
Another instance was a fairly big gravel cycling race, covering 70miles RD reiterated competitors should know the course as there is a big potential for error. Basically both of these instances release race management from accountability just as USATF says in writing. The stakes here at a major city championship with all of the money spent they should amend this But put a backup in place- A cyclist who has run/knows the course so if motorcade gets distracted ThE Motorcade can go the Wrong way And not the competitors.