Dr. Bob Sept has never run in the Iditarod. But his patients have, hundreds of them, in the teams of race champions like Rick Swenson and Susan Butcher, and in the teams of also-rans. Sept did hundreds of hours of that veterinary work for free, a donation to the sport and to the race. A labor of love, like serving as a race vet year in and year out, and as chief veterinarian in 1981 and 1982.

But Sept has been more than a doctor to the dogs. He has been a doctor to the race as well. When he took over as race president in 1983, the Iditarod was ailing. The race was in debt, the three paid staff members, not all full-time, were overwhelmed, and the Iditarod had not yet gained world-wide acclaim and big-money sponsors.

''It was a whole different ballgame,'' Sept said. ''We were always just one step ahead of the debt.''

Not even always that. There were times when, to keep merchandise in the Northway Mall Iditarod store, Sept had to write personal checks to T-shirt printers who didn't trust Iditarod checks and wouldn't carry the race on credit.

What saved the race? More than anything, Sept said, it was Libby Riddles in 1985. That race, Sept recalls, was the most difficult, with no money to have food flown in to checkpoints, and bad weather hampering volunteer efforts to deliver it. But the struggle was worth it when Riddles ran through a storm to win the race.

''Not only was it a woman winning, it was the way she won,'' Sept said.

That victory brought world-wide publicity, which brought sponsors eager to cash in on it. They allowed Sept to leave the race in better shape than he found it, and to step into the less stressful roles of vet and checker.

''It was like a year-round thing,'' Sept said. ''I was working it almost every day. I was always on the phone. There were never any days off. Your thought is, 'Well, I'll get this up and organized, and I'll leave.' But it's not easy.''

Fortunately for the Iditarod, Sept was up to the job.